A mentor of mine once described parish ministry as a ministry of triage. The word is more familiar from emergency medical practice, but is also used in the battlefield to sort out who needs the most attention and medical resources immediately.

      I would also suggest that in our busy world, our lives take on a sort of triage quality, as we sort out what demands on our time are most urgent, which ones can wait, which ones we really want to do, and then of course, there's the distasteful tasks that wait patiently until we really MUST do them or suffer unpleasant consequences.

      In the midst of all of these activities, activities for our SOULS usually get triaged to the bottom of the list. God doesn't demand much of us, the church is all voluntary, there are no grades or attendance rolls for our children in Sunday School, and if we have to argue with our kids about going, it just doesn't seem worth it. In the grand scheme of things, we argue, we can work on our souls when we retire and have more time. I know I do that with the books I really want to read, but set aside in favor of watching March Madness basketball or Person of Interest.

      Meanwhile, we wonder why we just aren't feeling a sense of satisfaction with our lives, why our relationships with our children and spouse and friends aren't deeper. When we finally have a chance to take time off, for vacation or because we get sick, we are aware of a gnawing emptiness that is a little discomfiting.

      The gradual consequence of not nurturing our souls is that we no longer have an interior life to draw from in relationships, in our creativity, in the living of our lives. It is the interior life grounded in God, as the Source of all love and creativity and order that "colors in" our busy lives and makes them richer. It is grace, and much more, the relationship with the Greatest Lover, that provides meaning and depth to our lives.

                                                                                       ~ Madre Liz