Dear Lu, I got a note from your other uncle today.\u00a0 He just received the \u201cCEO of the Decade\u201d award.\u00a0 He wrote me while he was in a total crisis.\u00a0 And odd crisis, it was.\u00a0 He mentioned the award, and how after he received it he went home, put the kids to bed, said goodnight to his wife, then went down to the Perpetual Adoration chapel at the nearby parish. (As soon as he mentioned that, I knew he was in dire straights; he never goes there when life is moving along smoothly.)\u00a0 He spent two hours sitting there in the chapel, thinking, and trying to pray.\u00a0 Can you guess what he was thinking about?\u00a0 His college years (no joke), and how much time he wasted then.\u00a0 He did very well in college, and won plenty of awards there as well, but he still has regrets.\u00a0 Immediately, I thought of you and our ongoing conversation about \u201ctime management.\u201d\u00a0 His case proves my point that every minute really matters, and that when we go before our Lord on Judgment Day, one of our deepest regrets will be the time we could have spent building his eternal Kingdom that we spent instead building our personal kingdom of sand castles.\u00a0 Today\u2019s saints are a perfect example. They were sisters born of a Christian mother and a Muslim father in northeastern Spain.\u00a0 It was soon after the Muslims had conquered the country, and after their mother had been widowed and (unwisely) married a Muslim for a second time, the sisters obtained permission to go and live with a Christian aunt.\u00a0 There they could be free from their stepfather\u2019s harsh treatment and from the steady stream of importunate suitors (they had both resolved to consecrate their virginity to Christ) that bothered them at home.\u00a0 Soon afterwards began one of the many persecutions against the Christians.\u00a0 The sisters were known to be devout Christians, and were brought (to their joy) before the city official, who used flattery, deceit, and threats to convince them to renounce their faith.\u00a0 They stood firm.\u00a0 Next he put them in the care of some wicked women, who tried to wear down their resolve with subtle but evil enticements \u2013 to no avail.\u00a0 Finally, in accordance with the laws of the time, they were beheaded because they refused to abandon their Christian faith. At first glance, this heroic story has nothing to do with \u201ctime management.\u201d\u00a0 But at second glance, it has everything to do with it.\u00a0 Remember, the key to our effective use of time is knowing our goal: if we know where we\u2019re going, we can easily figure out the most efficient way to get there; if we are unsure about our destination, or if we have a bunch of contrary destinations, we will never get anywhere.\u00a0 These two Spanish girls have a lot to teach us about our final destination: they believed in it so strongly that they were willing to give up all that this passing world has to offer in order to attain it, while we often can\u2019t even squeeze a visit the Blessed Sacrament into our \u201cbusy\u201d schedules.\u00a0 Food for thought, anyway, and for prayer. God bless, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Lu, I got a note from your other uncle today.\u00a0 He just received the \u201cCEO of the Decade\u201d award.\u00a0 He wrote me while he was in a total crisis.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n