Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
The day job, the speaking, the writing. My life runs on a highly 
regulated schedule. Yours may as well, with different obligations and responsibilities—spouse, children, grandchildren, work, volunteer activities. It’s not that we dislike a single one of them. It’s just that at times—let’s be honest, a lot more than “at times”—it becomes overwhelming. We can’t do everything, let alone do everything well.
But when the to-do list and the schedule starts to rule our lives, that’s a problem. God, you see, doesn’t come on a schedule. Oh, we can go to Him on a schedule—Mass, private prayer, prayer group, Bible study, and so on—and He’s always happy to see us. But are we happy to see Him other times? You know those times—when a friend really needs to talk about something that’s happening, joyful or sad. When the panhandler you see every day and never give a cent to says for the first time, “Have a blessed day.” When a family member needs a ride to a routine medical appointment, and it just isn’t on your docket for the day.
Schedules are important. We need them. But when we set them up as more important than random opportunities to encounter the Lord and His people, we ignore His knock on the door, and endanger our salvation.
