Prayer Is Quadrant II

... which means I will almost never get to it.

I'm listening to Father Larry Richards' book, Be A Man! these days. It's good, but a bit disappointing as I was expecting something less religious. Father Larry gives all manner of instruction, aimed at young men, which means it's full of good-natured remonstrances to get over your issues and get on with meeting your responsibilities. My favorite goes something like this.

Sometimes young men will come up to me and give me an excuse for bad behavior, saying, "Father, I come from a dysfunctional family." HA! We all come from dysfunctional families. Someday in the future, your kids will come to me or another priest and say, "Father, I come from a dysfunctional family!"

Hilarious because it's true. It has certainly made me think.

 Anywho, as I listened to Father Larry tell me how important it was to pray and I thought about how I don't pray because I don't have the time, can't concentrate, am stressed because I come from a dysfunctional family or am wracked with guilt because I am a dysfunctional family and the chihuahuas aren't getting enough love and attention and I need to send them to a doggy psychologist, I suddenly thought of the four quadrants of business and life decisions.

Man, that was an enormous sentence. Too long? Probably. Whatever. Here's the chart.

Shopping for dinner ingredients on the way home or prepping for business travel is Quadrant I. Watching Wheel of Fortune is Quadrant III. Checking Twitter is Quadrant IV.

Prayer is Quadrant II. We almost never get to Quadrant II. Quadrant II takes effort and the payoff is far away. Meh.

After I thought of this, I listened to Father Larry tell me how important it was to set aside time for contemplative prayer where I listened for what God wanted me to do.You betcha, Father Larry! I agree! Still, it's not Quadrant I, is it? And speaking of that, what am I making for dinner tonight? Wife kitteh has a meeting with her papist homies at 5, so cooking is up to me. We had steak last night and chicken the night before ...

Prayer? Yeah, I know it's  super important, but I don't have time right now. I'll get to it later ... Whoa! It's 7 already? That means it's time for Pat and Vanna!

Those Quadrant II things almost never get done.