The need for a daily agenda

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

LET’S hope that more and more people, especially the young ones, feel the need to have a daily agenda or a to-do list. This will assure us that, among many other things, we would be making good use of time, that we have a clear idea of the things we need to do, keeping us focused on our purpose and helping us to stay on the right track.

When we have this habit, we would be more likely to study and plan well the many things to tackle, thus enabling us to effectively prioritize what’s important. More than that, we would be more able to order them in such way that we not only pursue some immediate purpose but also, and more importantly, pursue the ultimate goal of our life which is to relate everything for the glory of God and for our sanctification.

Besides, this habit will give us more assurance of peace and a smooth work life even if there are unavoidable surprises along the way. We can feel a certain sense of dominion and an abiding sense of purpose. We would be more able to resist distractions that nowadays are getting plentier and more seductive. Yes, we would be more able to resist the usual dangers of idleness, laziness, loneliness, worries and the like.

And what kind of purpose can this be that would keep us going no matter what situation we find ourselves in? Of course, this could only be God, our love of God, from whom we come and to whom we belong. He is our beginning and end, our everything.

That’s why we need to sharpen our awareness of him, feel his presence and his abundant merciful love for us, learn to discern his will and ways in every moment, and know how to relate everything in our life to his ever-functioning Providence.

We need to strengthen our faith that only in God can we have the ultimate purpose in life. St. Paul said so: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31)

Before that, Christ himself told us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Lk 10,27) Nothing could be clearer than this as to what final purpose we have in life. All other goals and objectives we have in life should only be secondary and instrumental to this ultimate purpose of our life.

We need to find ways to correspond to this clear commandment of God to us. That effort will help us to broaden our mind, to continue making initiatives, to widen our perspectives, to deepen our hope and inflame our charity. It will help us to study things well, not only staying in the theoretical level but also going into the reality on the ground.

It will spur us to action always, not contented with knowing things alone or having some theoretical attitude in life. It will push us to develop a universal heart, capable of dealing with everyone and of reaching out to everyone, including the most difficult personalities and enemies.

It will enable us to have a sense of unity and continuity among the different elements and the different occurrences in our life, be they good or bad, favorable or unfavorable to us, etc.

When we have love of God as our abiding sense of purpose in our life behind our daily agenda, we would find it easy to go from one thing to another, no matter disparate they are from each other. We would find meaning in everything, including what we consider to be human disasters in our life.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com