Do Less in Your Spiritual Life

Deanna Bartalini suggests that doing less with more intention will help you to deepen your spiritual life.

Last month I wrote about being in the present, focusing on what is in front of you, and taking care of that before making plans. In light of those thoughts, I’d like to consider something else that has been tugging at me: the need and desire to be still and be deeply present in my spiritual life.

I kept coming to this idea and honestly, it was a bit vague until I heard this on a Godsplaining podcast. I am paraphrasing; in the spiritual life, it is not about doing more, it is about going deeper. And that vague thought left was replaced by something quite tangible.

Our culture prizes accomplishments, completing the task, and achieving the goal. But what is the goal of our spiritual life? I want to know who I am in relation to God and that each day I am doing His will. But how and when do we know if that goal is accomplished? In small ways, we can see in our life, but the final answer will not come until we see God face to face.

And so, as Jesus said, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”(Mark 8:36). In my thoughts, what does it profit me to say I’ve read a spiritual book a week and the entire Bible and prayed all the Liturgy of the Hours and gone to Adoration and Confession and Mass ... and what else would you add? But do I know God? Do I know how God knows and sees me? Have I done what He wants and what is necessary?

We can consume so much content and do so many good things, but do we ever stop and deeply consider what we are doing? That is how to grow in our spiritual life. Not to consume, but to be still and deeply enter the prayer or reading.

Let me be practical. If you have 15 minutes to pray the rosary you can pray each decade as quickly as possible to get it done or you could pray one decade using the scriptural Rosary. You read the daily Mass readings and then the Catholic Mom reflection. And the question strikes you, but instead of stopping and writing down a response, you move on to your next prayer because time is moving on. And while you promise yourself you’ll think about it later, the day gets away from you.

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Do less, with greater intention, in your spiritual life. #CatholicMom

What is my point? Do less, but do it with more intention, with more deliberateness. It can be easy to add our spiritual life to our to-do list for the day. I want to encourage you not to do that, but to consider how you can do less while being more present and pondering more deeply what is in front of you. I truly believe that will help you deepen your spiritual life without adding more to your list of things to do.

Do less, with more intention: that’s what I am doing in 2023. Care to join me?

Copyright 2023 Deanna Bartalini
Images: Canva

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