Stop Sin in its Tracks
In aviation, all mishaps, crashes, and fatalities are the result of a chain reaction of decisions. Each link in the chain contributes to the overall accident, and yet, breaking a single link is all that would have been required to avert disaster. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Sin doesn’t just happen. Rather, it’s the culmination of bad decision making and missed opportunities to choose a different outcome.
While sin is usually preceded by many decisions, it’s increasingly important that we not submit in defeat. Sin can be beat, it can be stopped, and we can sum up the courage to choose a better life for ourselves.
Our conscience is a very powerful tool in our daily decision making. Although over time it can be perverted, it nevertheless keeps fighting, albeit in a more muted manner. In action, our conscience throws up multiple flags, warning us of impending danger. Each flag, each nag, each feeling of unease, is an opportunity for us to choose something different. Sin is always appealing until you act on it. Once on the other side, it has no further reason to masquerade as something fun or exciting. Instead, it’s laid bare (pun intended) and we see the destruction, unhappiness, and pain that it brings.
In the fight, temptation and sin remain appealing. That reason alone should be all the motivation that we need in order to keep us in control. You control you. By ceding that control to anyone, or anything else, you give up the greatest bargaining chip that you have. When you’re in control of your thoughts, desires, and actions, you’re fortified against the empty attacks of temptation. When you cede control of your thoughts or your actions, or your emotions, you become increasingly susceptible to sin.
We all face varying degrees of temptation, and sometimes we’re stronger than at other times. Fix problems as they come. You’ll always have a principal sin, that big sin that you struggle with. Yet, over time, as you root out one principal sin, it’s replaced by a weaker, less destructive one. You work to minimize both the strength and danger of your principal sin.
Despair is a tool of the Devil, and it’s used to get us to give in where we otherwise may not. The fight is difficult, and the struggle is real, but each one of us has within ourselves the capacity and ability to stop sin in its tracks. Choose something different. Choose something better. Choose freedom.
Work Needs A Finish Line
The line between on the clock and off the clock has been blurred beyond recognition. Today’s workforce is finding it increasingly difficult to stop working. Ever. We work at home in the evening, in the morning before work hours begin, and even, sadly, on vacation. I’ve allocated myself 7 hours during the day for work and, to be completely honest, I struggle to stop working even then. When I lay my head down in the evening, I’m exhausted from a day full of work and chasing Benedict.
We need to develop a hard stop in the evening. We know where the starting line is in the morning, but we’ve lost the finish line in the evening. Work will expand to the time that you give it, and there will always be more things for you to do. By initiating a time that’s a hard stop in the evening, you know where the finish line is. Once you cross it, you’re done until the next day. It really is that simple and it really is completely necessary.
Our work needs boundaries. We were made to work, and work is a very good thing- when it doesn’t take more than its share of your time. Work provides for your family, helps you grow as a person, contributes to your sense of dignity, and helps your customers to live a better life. Yet, when work creeps into off time and family time, it not only burns you out, it robs your family of the time that they’re due.
A hard stop in the evening can make you more productive. If you know that you stop working at 5:30pm and that’s all the time that you have, you’ll naturally stay more focused. There isn’t any bonus time, there aren’t any more minutes after 5:30pm. Here’s what you have to work with, now go get it done. You’ll surf less, daydream less, and you’ll also skip low importance tasks that might have suckered you in before. It’s a productivity tip that’s proven to work.
Your life needs space. You need time to focus on the other aspects of your life so that you’ll remain a balanced, healthy person. Plus, working too much will lead you to hate a job that you might truly love. Burnout gets the best of far too many people, and the quickest way to get there is by working endlessly.
Find a hard stop time in the evening when you know you can achieve it 80% of the time. If you have a job with a lot of night meetings, you need to be creative. More likely than not, you can find that hard break. Commit to it and then do it! Once you hit that hard stop, leave everything for the morning. Your wife will be glad you did.
Don’t Let Vice Kill You
You’re likely a pretty good person. You go about your life doing the right thing every day. You have responsibilities to your wife and your family, and you do them admirably. You’re an above average husband and a dedicated father. This is the image the that World sees, and it’s the one that you hope you’re presenting. Your interior life, your spiritual life, is probably somewhere around average, though it does have one thing weighing it down. It’s a common struggle that we all share. We have a vice, a singular sin is holding us back, but we can’t seem to shake it. I call it our “principal sin.”
We’ve grown pretty comfortable with sin. It’s almost as if we have a certain level of tolerance for it and as long as we’re within that tolerance, we let things slide. We accept a certain level of uncharity, a certain level of laziness in our prayer life, and a certain level of whatever else our particular character deems ok. We’re comfortable, and it’s incredibly dangerous. Sin presents a real and present danger in your life. Small sin takes root, grabs hold of you, and branches out. Realistically, we will all have some sin in our lives as perfection isn’t possible in this life. Yet, our goal needs to be getting our sin portfolio, if you will, to contain only the smallest and innocuous sins imaginable. Don’t let sin ruin you.
This path to perfection, wherein we remove serious sins from our portfolio, is a lifelong journey. We’re talking about changing thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors that we may have had for decades. The time required is intensive because it requires our sole focus. You simply can’t take on all of your sin at the same time. Instead, you have to focus on one at a time, a process that may take months. Yet, it’s focus that’ll win this battle. It’s focus and attention that will get you to a place that you didn’t think was possible.
There’s something incredibly freeing about living the life that you’ve always wanted. A life free of the burden of temptation towards your principal sin. Surely, as you work through this process, the name of your principal sin will change, but the importance of rooting it out of your life is unchanging. Your life is significantly impacted by your current principal sin in ways that you can’t recognize, because you’ve been stuck for so long. It takes courage to challenge something you may now consider to be unbeatable. It takes tremendous courage if you’ve been entrenched for years.
We all loathe the habitual nature of our principal sin. In the back of our minds in the Confession line, the thought creeps up that we can’t beat it. We’re frustrated that we’re back in this line, for the same reason. It makes us feel weak. It makes us feel powerless. Yet, when we start beating back our principal sin, we get a glimpse into the true power of God. When we cooperate with His power, doing something that’s His Will, things happen.
The truth is, we aren’t fond of our principal sin, but there is something alluring about it still. While we’re trapped, we also acknowledge that it isn’t worth it. Why run the slightest risk of losing what you’ve got? Why run the slightest risk of missing out on a life of happiness?
The question becomes, where do I start? In the vast array of our spiritual life, how do we know where to start chipping away? Identify the habitual sins that you commit, and from that list, identify the most serious. Serious is a relative term, because you could be trapped in sin that right now is incredibly destructive, or you could be trapped in a gateway sin that, based on your personality or history, is a fast track to destructive sin. Once you’ve identified the most serious, you’ve found your principal sin. Understand everything about that sin. Why do you do it? What are your triggers? How did it start? Why does it continue? Do other people face it? How have they been successful? Ask these questions and more. Then, devise a plan, build in accountability, and focus. Track the number of days that you’ve been able to beat it. Pray constantly and specifically. Go to Daily Mass or stop by Adoration. Go crazy attacking, beating it down, and cooperating with God’s power.
After some wins and losses, some victories and setbacks, with enough grit and determination, you’ll beat your principal sin. You’ll finally know freedom and have the strength of character, self control, and depth of interior life to keep it subdued. Then, it’s time to identify your new principal sin.
Beating sin in your life is a lifelong process, one filled with difficulty, joy, sadness, and awe at God’s willingness to be so active in your life. And yet, it’s the lifelong process of a saint.
The Beauty Around You
This week will mark the eighth anniversary of this blog. We live in a hurried and distracted culture, one in which we assume that longevity means success. I don’t think that’s true in general, and it’s certainly not true with this blog.
In many ways, this blog is the journal of my adult life. I started it months before my first child was born. Now, I’m at home with four little ones and running our homeschool operation. As I write this post, I look out the window and see three of my children playing cooperatively, and happily, in the backyard. The lessons that I’ve learned, and in many cases relearned, are woven in posts throughout the years.
Catholic Husband is a rough draft. Imperfections can be found in each post, whether they be grammatical errors or the transparency of my mistakes. Taking the time to write about my life and experiences gives me an opportunity to process events and understand the deeper lessons. The blog has grown with me, and will continue to do so.
Spring is upon us, with flowering trees heralding the change in season. As I start to look two years down the road at the 10 year milestone, I want to continue to improve. I want to continue learning life’s lessons as they come, day by day. I also want to firm up and modernize this blog. The nature of life is impermanence, but it’s within my control to ensure that this blog stays on the web. I will be going through the more than 800 posts and correcting grammatical mistakes. I’ll also be taking steps to bring this blog into conformity with modern web standards, ensuring that it can continue to be accessible fare into the future.
While I’m still young, the reality of adulthood slowly creeps into my conscience. When Alison and I are at Mass, and we’re simultaneously praying and wrangling four kids, I often marvel at what we’re able to accomplish. We started this project together, and together we’re raising our family. It’s my sincere hope that by continuing this blog, I will keep growing in my vocation to love, lead, and serve my family.
Are You Taking A Pay Cut?
Spring is my favorite season. It’s used to be fall because I absolutely love cold, grey, steely October days. Yet, I’m a person who loves hope, promised, and newness, so therefore spring must take the crown. Perhaps my favorite part about spring is getting Spring Fever. On the first warm day of the season, I immediately want to get outside, wash the car, and pull out all of my summer clothes. While the nice weather is usually gone the following day, the sentiment is right. Get out of your house and enjoy being outside!
Winter is incredibly harsh and sedentary. It’s no wonder we all gain weight while everything around us is so bleak. The only exercise we get in Winter is shoveling all of that dang snow. Winter makes me feel trapped, like a hibernating bear. It’s a necessary season, but it’s one that’s pretty unhealthy.
Spring, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. It’s warm, cheerful, and the sounds of chirping birds lift my spirits. We get to be active, play outside, and not put on four layers of clothing just to get the mail. Spring is inviting and it brings us the promise of an amazing season to come. Nature and creation are truly beautiful, but it’s all too easy for us to ignore it. We drive past the same scenery every day going to work, but we fail to notice the sheer beauty and magnitude of the life around us. Spring invites us to again appreciate creation because what was once dead comes roaring back to life.
Now that we’re nearing the end of spring and entering into the summer season, I encourage you to spend more time outside. If you have a deck out back, pray out there in the morning or read out there in the evening. If you have a nice lawn, play out there with your kids or have a barbecue with your friends. Open the windows of your house, go for a walk, and get active again. Nature is all around you, waiting for you to enjoy it. Get out there!
How to Spend More Time with Your Wife
Earlier this year, during one of Alison’s many rotations, she was assigned to a hospital about 45 minutes away. Her shift was from 7am - 7pm daily with the exception of Wednesday, meaning that her schedule and Benedict’s schedule aligned very poorly. In fact, during the week, with the exception of Wednesday and the weekend, she often wouldn’t see him at all. To help alleviate the loss that all three of us felt, twice during the month Benedict and I drove her to work and then went on an adventure.
When time is tight in your schedules it becomes even more important to make time to be with your wife. Certainly sacrifices will need to be made, but the fact that there is limited time necessitates that for the sake of your marriage, you make time.
You could stay up later, go to work together, or reserve time in the evenings. Hopefully the restricted nature of your schedules is only temporary, but during that time, you jointly need to create time to be together. Your marriage cannot withstand, nor should it be asked to, prolonged periods of absence when a few schedule adjustments could free up as much as an hour or more a day.
We all struggle to balance our time and we tend to look back longingly on the days when we had all of the time in the world to do as we pleased. Yet, the “struggle” to balance your time is not as much of a struggle as it is a difficult decision process. You likely will have to sacrifice a good for the sake of a greater good, nourishing your marriage.
It’s hard to be apart from your wife and there will most certainly be times when your schedules conspire against you. In those times of difficulty, choose to not be overcome by the tyranny of the clock and instead make reasonable adjustments to your schedule so that you can have more time together with your beloved on a daily basis.
Reinforce Family Values
One of the most difficult challenges that parenting presents is passing on family values. If you value health, then don’t give your kids three scoops of ice cream for dessert every night. If you value community, share a meal around the table at least once a day. Engage in family activities that reinforce family identity, values, and mutual growth.
Activities drive behavior. Regular participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Adoration, Stations of the Cross and family prayer will help to cultivate a rich and meaningful interior life for your kids. Regular physical activities such as walking, hiking, or going on bike rides will help your children grow healthy and strong, but also reinforce the importance of taking care of one’s body.
We need to be doing activities that foster mutual growth. Planning, preparing, and sharing family meals is one of the best ways to accomplish mutual growth. Kids learn the important skill of cooking, everyone will eat healthier, and the shared conversation at dinner reinforces in a child’s mind that they’re loved and valued. Spending time together reading each day will show your children that learning isn’t just for school and that reading is the critical tool that will take them to the next level intellectually and professionally.
What we truly need to be doing is building a greater sense of family identity. Teach your kids about your heritage and expose them to different cultures. Make togetherness and connectedness staples of the family life. Make each other a priority over everything else. Parenting is a complex and multifaceted challenge. We have many things to juggle and important lessons to impart. If we start by reinforcing our family values, all other lessons and growth will flow forth.
The Secret to Winning Your Morning
The past six months have been a time of great change in my daily routine. With Benedict now walking and the weather starting to get nice outside, everything about my routine has evolved. I’m thankful to finally be able to walk in the morning again and also that the pace of my work is picking up. All of these changes have had a significant impact on how I plan out my day, although Benedict ultimately holds a veto over the schedule. Essentially, I’ve found that getting my morning started with just the right mix of prayer, work, and family gives me the best chance of feeling satisfied when I lay my head down at night.
For me, everything comes down to the morning. If my morning doesn’t go well, or if I get distracted early on, the day is in trouble. I’ve established many times the importance and value of quality sleep. If your sleep isn’t a priority, the rest of your day will go poorly. At the same time, the earlier you wake up, the more productive hours you’ll have during the day. Engineering an early waking, not at the expense of solid sleep time, is crucial.
Your morning routine starts the night before. In the Winter, Benedict and I would do our daily walk in the afternoon when the temperatures were slightly warmer. That was a bad schedule for me, because I hate taking two showers in a day, so I’d simply push my shower to the afternoon. That meant I had to go through the entire morning work session feeling grimy from the day before. Honestly, it slowed me down. I prefer being ready for the day as early as possible so that I can be clean, dressed, and productive throughout the entire work day. It’s been my experience that being clean and properly dressed can make a huge difference in my mindset and lead to greater productivity.
Your morning needs prayer time. A good mix between 15 and 30 minutes will help to frame your day. Turning your attention back to God and growing in relationship with Him in the morning hours is another tool to keep your day on track. I vary my morning prayer time activities. Lately I’ve been reading the Gospel of Luke while during my reading time (later in the day) I’m reading a Gospel commentary. These two together make my prayer time more enriching.
If you’re up at 5:00 and your family doesn’t get moving until 6:30 or 7:00, you may find that you have time to do a little bit of work. I don’t necessarily mean work for your employer, but rather, some type of passion project. Of course, you could do some work for your job if it means you’ll get to come home earlier, but I’d much rather you do something that you’re really excited about early in the day. Quick wins will energize you and keep you moving forward throughout the day.
Lastly, when your family stirs near the end of your morning routine, have some time with them. Eat breakfast together or find some activity that you can all enjoy in the morning. Make it something that you’ll all look forward to. As your schedules diverge for the remainder of the day, it can be nice to have bookend family time, a little in the morning, and some more in the evening.
The morning is the biggest opportunity to keep your day on track and leave your to-do list checked off. Make time for prayer, work, and family, and you’ll find yourself getting further, faster.
One Trick to Love Your House More
To say that our house has a yard would be a stretch. We have a patch of land next to our house that contains nothing but weeds. Certainly there’s a wide variety of weeds, and they’re all green, but I don’t think I’ve been able to spot a single blade of grass anywhere near our house. Yet, now that we have a “yard,” I’ve been very keen to take care of the exterior appearance of our home. Earlier this Spring, Alison and I spent almost an entire day outside, trimming hedges, putting down mulch, and planting all sorts of flowers and vegetables. As a point of pride, we take care of our home’s exterior.
A house with cut grass looks really sharp. I always marvel at how good our house looks right after I’ve mowed the lawn. While growing up mowing was a chore, it’s now something that I look forward to. Granted, it takes me no more than 15 minutes to do the whole job. A well maintained lawn is fun for the kids and great for playtime. It looks good and it begs to be used. Plus, fresh cut grass smells amazing when you’re eating dinner outside.
Interestingly, keeping your lawn manicured, your bushes trimmed, and your flower beds maintained has an impact beyond just your own home and family. By taking care of your home’s exterior, you love your community. A well maintained exterior improves the look and feel of your neighborhood and shows community pride. If everyone in your neighborhood takes care of their exteriors, you can collectively increase the desirability of your neighborhood and raise home values. Now that’s a win-win!
I’ve written many times about keeping the interior of your home clean, and today I’d like to encourage you to take that same mentality to your home’s exterior. Yard work, especially in the Summer heat, can be quite unpleasant, but it always pays off. Even mowing your yard weekly can help to maintain a great exterior appearance. Weeding is a constant hassle, but it beats the unkempt alternative.
The exterior of your home has a big impact on your neighbors, and an even bigger impact on you. When you come home to a well maintained exterior and then go inside to your clean interior, you’ll have a feeling of great peace and accomplishment, and you’ll rightly call yourself “home.”
If You Don’t Understand, Do Nothing
I’m very involved in the healthcare decisions of my family. I always ask lots of clarifying questions and want to make sure that I fully understand the recommendations, treatments, and procedures that anyone in my household will undergo. Thankfully, I have Alison as a great resource to answer any question I may have after an appointment. Yet, even though she is a qualified physician, I want to make sure that I understand everything.
Recently, Benedict was due to get some shots, and before his appointment, Alison and I discussed and agreed which shots he’d get. While we don’t object to vaccinations, we do object to vaccinations derived from aborted fetuses and opt to use ethical alternatives, when available. At the appointment, the doctor suggested he was due for an additional shot that Alison and I hadn’t discussed. I didn’t understand the shot, and so, I chose to defer all of the shots to an appointment later in the month. The delay would give Alison and I time to discuss and agree on a course of action. We sat down, reviewed his records and the vaccination guidelines, cross checked with our list of ethical alternatives, and determined that the shot was ethical and that it was acceptable for Benedict to get it. Was it a minor detail? Yes. Was he going to get the vaccination regardless of the origin? Yes. Yet, I didn’t understand the recommendation at the appointment, so I chose to do nothing until I could ensure that we were carrying out our wishes.
I share this story to illustrate this point. In healthcare, indeed in all aspects of your life, only make decisions when you fully understand them. If you don’t understand, do nothing, get more information, and then make a decision.
Assumptions can be deadly in medicine. When you go with someone to their appointment, you act as their patient advocate. While this title may seem trite, it’s up to you to ensure that everyone in the room is completely clear on what was discussed and what medications and procedures will be carried out. This is especially important when the patient is sick, because their judgement could be impaired.
We tend to have an off-balance relationship with our medical care team. Since we’re ignorant about our particular illness and they deal with it daily, we tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Never be afraid to ask questions. While some providers may get annoyed, medical research proves beyond a doubt that patients who are active in their treatment have better outcomes. You’re in control of your health and medical decisions which means that while your care team makes recommendations, you’re the one who ultimately says yes or no. Ask all of your questions, and when appropriate, get outside advice.
We do a lot of posturing unnecessarily in life. For whatever reason, we want to impress these total strangers by pretending like we’re intelligent enough to receive, comprehend, and then act on all information given to us. Be wise enough to know what you don’t know, and only make decisions when you’re ready to make them. You’ll be glad you did.