We are all busy these days, and both before and after Christmas, it seems, even more so. We each have lengthy lists of things to accomplish, and we spend the bulk of our time trying to complete one task to move to the next. Exhortations to “simplify” or “slow down” are, frankly, not helpful: the many things we have to do still need to get done.

So we have to find a way to fit God into this busyness routine. How so? We all know the common refrain, and perhaps have used it ourselves more than once: “I’m too busy to pray.” “I’m too busy to go to Mass on Sunday.” “There’s not enough time in the day to spend time with God.”

But let’s probe deeper: Are we really too busy for God, for Mass, for prayer?

Let’s first look at our list of quotidian things to do: Rise, tidy, prepare what we need for the day (lunch, briefings, tools, homework), go to work or school, return home to child and adult activities that require shuttling around, making dinner, eating, cleaning up, paying bills, perhaps exercise or watching television, catching up on the news and websites we follow, checking emails, sending texts, checking in with family and friends, preparing what is necessary for the next day, sleep. Then rise the next day and repeat.

Within this list lies a hierarchy of tasks: some things are more important than others. Importance follows from the value we put on the item. Exercise, for example, may be a necessity for one person, an occasional pleasantry for a second, or completely irrelevant for a third. Eating is a necessity, but how one eats, whether at table with one’s family or on the go to save time, reflects the importance we assign to other tasks and obligations.

“I’m too busy for God,” then, really means that God – and we can include Mass and prayer here – is not important enough for me: I value these other worldly things more than Him.

If God really mattered to me, the way work and health and family do, I would find time to spend with Him, no matter how difficult it may be to do so. In fact, where I place God and prayer time on my daily “to do” list plainly indicates how vibrant – or not – my faith is.

When it comes to ranking our priorities, Jesus did not mince words: He must be at the top of the list:

• “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)
• “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matt 19:21)
• “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

Following Christ in this radical manner is the goal – and challenge – of lives. Doing so is not a once and done accomplishment, but a daily battle with which we all struggle, and for which we need God’s grace.

If we are to be Christians worthy of the name, therefore, our busyness has to include regular time for God. This, of course, is not to reduce God or prayer to a “thing to do,” though, on our more frazzled days, we may feel that way. It is, rather, to drive home the fact that we must “seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

How exactly we include God in our daily schedules is up to each one of us depending on our state in life: scheduling prayer time for police, fire, or medical personnel working a twenty-four-hour shift, say, requires more ingenuity than for students or 9-5 workers. And what exactly we do with God and for how long may change over the years as our circumstances change (birth of a child, new job, caring for an aging parent) or as we change.

There is a minimum standard though: attendance at Mass each Sunday and daily time set aside for personal prayer, that is, for personal “face time” with God. Personal prayer can take many forms: quiet conversation with God in our hearts, the rosary, divine mercy chaplet, the Liturgy of the Hours, reading the Bible, praying the psalms and readings of the day in the “Magnificat.”

If even this seems logistically impossible, we may have to sacrifice some “less important” thing on our “to do” list – perhaps a bit of sleep, or time checking the news and the phone. A vibrant relationship with God requires us to sacrifice, as He repeatedly told us: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

If there is a “maximum standard,” St. Paul expressed it: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) That is, Christ is not only the most important item on my “to do” list, but also, He permeates it and gives it meaning, day after day, by permeating my very being.

Even when making this maximum effort, the earthly things we have to do will inevitably distract us. Too often prayer is little more than a battle to keep our minds on God and not the “to do” list. But if we make the effort to fight, and ask God for help, we claim that list for Christ, however dissatisfying our prayer may feel in the moment.

Busyness, in a way, then, is a blessing: it forces us to make the choice, each day, of the God who chose us first.