Family events are such a blessing. However, for many of us, they can also be a bit daunting. Our space is encroached upon, our schedules are thrown off, and finding time and space to process the many emotions that come with the holidays becomes a challenge.
In this episode I walk you through 5 ways that you can create space in the midst of a family gathering and prepare your heart to be loving and patient, no matter what comes your way. From start to finish, there are always opportunities to put on the mind of Christ no matter what your Aunt Julie says, or where you find yourself sleeping this season.
Family events are such a blessing. However, for many of us, they can also be a bit daunting. Our space is encroached upon, our schedules are thrown off, and finding time and space to process the many emotions that come with the holidays becomes a challenge.
In this episode I walk you through 5 ways that you can create space in the midst of a family gathering and prepare your heart to be loving and patient, no matter what comes your way. From start to finish, there are always opportunities to put on the mind of Christ no matter what your Aunt Julie says, or where you find yourself sleeping this season.
/When I was a kid, one of the things that I remember most about my family is driving around in our light baby blue sparkly. Stationwagon. That car went through so much in so many years, but one of the memories that comes back to me often, Is that have seen my mother sitting in the car when we got home from mass on Sundays./ And this episode, I am going to talk. about why that moment sticks in my head so significantly as an adult myself How we can approach the holidays from a place of love and How You can actually time and space to process on your own And why. why that is So Cigna. Significantly important/
Hello, beautiful souls, and welcome to the Persistence in Prayer podcast hosted by Catholic Mindset coach, wife, mother, educator, and speaker, Kylie Hine. Kylie is passionate about helping you deepen your relationship with God through the power of prayer. This podcast is a space for high achievers who want to do it all, but also want to prioritize their spiritual life and grow in faith. Join us as we explore the beauty of persistence in prayer and the transformative impact it can have on our lives. Get ready to discover practical tips, insights, and inspiration to help you develop a daily prayer practice and cultivate a deeper sense of trust in God's plan for your life. Let's journey together towards a more fulfilled and faithful life as we invite the Holy Spirit in. Let's begin.
Kylie:
My family history is a little complicated, but for most of my life, there were four children living at home. And. That meant my mom was taking all four of us to mass. By herself. My dad would only go to mass on mother's day and the rest of the year. It was my mom. And as a mother now, I understand how incredibly difficult that is to get your children to mass on your own, especially when they are young. And our mess started at 11:00 AM. So it would get over around noon. We'd get home about 12, 15, and. And so you can imagine. Imagine that all. Of us kids were then hungry and we would all get out of the car and we would go inside but the thing i remember Is. Is my mom Sitting in the car She. She would sit in the car by herself when we got home from mass Now why did she do that Well as i reflect back on this now from my new perspective as a mother and with my better understanding of temperaments It is really clear to see that like many of us my mother needed time and space to process her emotions./ Unfortunately for my mother, because all of us were hungry. She never had very long to sit in the car by herself because if she sat out there too long, All of us kids were going to be crawling back in the car with her. Questioning her. We're interrogating her as to why she was not coming inside because we couldn't possibly understand. That she needed this time and space to just process her emotions. And maybe to just sit and reflect on mass and. I spend time with the Lord. And a world that is so busy, it can be incredibly difficult to find time and space to process. Our emotions, whether it's in our own families where there's constant interaction, there's noise. It's that our jobs. Or just in the day to day, it's sometimes really hard to get away. Even in our own homes, we are tempted by the noise of our televisions of our phones. Of the radio. And. It gets simpler and simpler to make those temptations become a reality. We don't even have to walk to turn on the TV. We can click a button on the remote, and if the remote's lost, we can simply use our phone, which we know is going to be attached to our hip because. We'd feel lost if it wasn't right there next to us. Uh, but we know that this time and space is really important and. I have found the significance of that so much more since I have started Catholic coaching, where I am able to hold this space for others and see the incredible transformations that come from them. But there's another place where we are truly transformed as well. And that is in our prayer life and in our per time, I think of. A couple of things come to mind. Actually, when I think of prayer that I want to share with you today, especially as we are going into the holidays where. Often we're surrounded by so much busy. This has come up in my group coaching calls and I feel like it's just something that's important to share. Whether you were having family over for the holidays. Where your space is going to be encroached on. Maybe you are excited about that, or maybe that gives you a little bit of anxiety because we know that's a lot of different temperaments in one location, or maybe you're traveling and you are going to be in someone else's space and you feel like. You don't have anywhere for yourself where you can kind of get away. And that can be difficult. Not only are you navigating? The relationships with everyone around you. But you. You don't always have time. To re settle and recenter. And. That can be a problem for many of us. Because we're not. Quite sure how to handle it. So today I'm going to talk about some ways that you can take your prayer with you. So that you can be a little more centered on that. And we know that when we are centered on God, we are more charitable. We are more loving. These are ways that you can find space for yourself to process, And this time and space may be actually alone in a way from people, but. We also know that we can really just tap into our soul where we're at and go into that interior life. And we can find solitude in the midst of the chaos as well through prayer So that's what i'm going to talk about today ways Is that we can actually find alone time During the holidays but also ways that We can tap into that interior life While we are surrounded by a group of people one of the necessities. For progress and then to devout life. According to Saint Francis de sales. Is that if you desire to hardly follow a devout life, seek a holy guide and conductor, and one of those greatest. Guides. That we can follow. Of course, there's Jesus. There's a lot of saints, but I'm going to reference St. Paul today.'cause y'all know i love prayer and so here are a few Inspirational pieces from st paul to remind you of why this is important first of all and then we'll get into the good stuff of how you can actually implement it So in ephesians chapter six verse 18, Saint paul says with all prayer and supplication pray at every opportunity in the spirit To that end be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones So praying at every opportunity as you are going into your family get together And i'm speaking in the us because we have thanksgiving this week in just two days But you can also apply this as you go into the christmas holiday as you have those get togethers coming up if you are in other parts of the world/ And then of course we have Romans 12, 12, also Saint Paul rejoice. Joyce and hope enduring affliction. Action and persevere in prayer. Galatians chapter four, verse two persevere in prayer being watchful in it with. With Thanksgiving. and the last one, Thessalonians five 17, pray without ceasing and all circumstances give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Okay. So how does this show up in Thanksgiving or. Or in our Christmas holiday? Well, number one, We can pray for people and what a beautiful opportunity. When we feel ourselves getting overwhelmed, we feel like we really want to step out. We want to get away. This is a time. That I have found in my life. Is really great for me to just tap into that interior life. If I don't like where the conversation is going, if it is getting gossipy, if it just feels like everyone is traveling in the opposite direction and I'm going against the crowd. Cause sometimes. I feel like that. I have an extroverted. Uh, But I very much am an introvert in. In terms of large. Large groups of people. I get. Get. Overwhelmed. Very quickly. And. I want to. Just hide in my room and hide away. So I have found that it is very helpful for me to just pray for the people that I am surrounded. Bye sometimes. That sane. A silent decade. The rosary in my head, sometimes it's saying, come holy spirit, give me the words to speak. It doesn't. Doesn't mean that I have to be overly confrontational, but just offering. Offering up prayers of Thanksgiving and gratitude for the. People I am surrounded by and what I can learn. Learn for that from them. This is also an opportunity for you to be a witness. I talked. About this on podcasts. I guess last week about how. How, when we don't even realize that people are watching us. So what a great opportunity, especially if you have family who maybe they're fallen away, Catholics, maybe they've never been Catholic, but for you to be able to show them that you pray before your. A meal. And. Maybe your whole family does a big prayer of Thanksgiving together. That's beautiful, but I know at least. On my in-laws no one. Analysis Catholic. And that's not something that they typically do. And so I've gotten more comfortable over the years of. You know, pulling my children aside and. We still say a quick prayer before meals. And my children are getting more comfortable where they are able to do that around. Or on their cousins without me reminding them now they're not perfect at it. And I totally understand that because. When I was growing up, that was. Never something I would have thought of doing. But I have been so inspired by my friends who even. When we are out at restaurant. we'll stop. And they'll make their sign in the cross. They will pray their prayer before meals. And now I have gotten better about doing that myself. So just being a witness and having people see you do that. Can go so far, we might not see the impact that it has on them today, or maybe in our lifetime, but it does have an impact. We are influenced by everything that we see and everything that we hear. And so much of it is negative in our world, our world right now. But this is an opportunity for you to really pray before your people and for your people. So really just being a witness is a great way. So kind of tap into that interior life in the midst of whatever it is that is going around. Um, going on around you. The second way that I want. To talk about is. If you are staying over somewhere. So perhaps you're traveling to your in-laws. That's what we are doing this Thursday, or maybe you were having family come to you. This is something that has come up in my group. Coaching calls. Of. That overwhelmed sometimes when people aren't great about telling us when they're coming or how long they're staying. I know that. They're all. Different types of food allergies and things that people have now. And it can just be a little stressful trying to navigate. The gate. All of those different avenues. And if you are Melancholic. This can be a little bit stressful because you like to have all of the details played and you want to be in control and you might have a like MADEC, um, relative who's very like fly by the. The seat of their pants. And it's not a big deal to them to not have all of the details to you. So this can be a little bit stressful. So just to reminder, to start your day. Wherever you are with something like a morning offering. That's a really simple prayer you can offer up your day to the Lord. And again, just kind of recenter. You don't have to have us. A long time by. Yourself to be able to do that. And of course. I'm always going to encourage your mental prayer time. Do not. Not exclude that. Just because you are traveling. Or if someone else is in your home, This is one of the toughest. Sophists places I have found. Found to be consistent. Distant in prayer. There is. On vacation or when traveling or over the holidays, aside from being sick, I still think being sick is the hardest to be consistent. But. Traveling is. Is probably. Probably next. And it's because you're very out of your routine. Your sleep schedule is not always the same. You. You might not be sleeping as well. If you're sleeping in someone else's home or. Or you might not be sleeping as well because you're staying up and you're caring for other people who. We're in your home. So. It's okay. Okay. I just want to remind you that it is okay to excuse yourself early at night time. I know. That sometimes there can be that, oh my gosh. Well, what am I going to miss out on by staying? If I don't stay up and I don't spend time with these people. Um, I'm not saying don't engage, but it's okay to excuse yourself. So for me, that looks like when we're at my in-laws. I know that everyone's going. A little bit later than I typically do. About when I reached my point where. I'm tired. I I excuse myself to go to bed. Before. Before. Some of the other adults. Adults. And that gives me an. An opportunity even before. My husband comes up to bed. That I have a little bit of quiet time in my bedroom to say my nightly examine. To get myself to bed and have a plan. For the morning. Of how I am going to approach my mental prayer time. And then I still try to get up early before everyone else. Sometimes there. Are early risers. And I'm not going to be completely alone. So mental prayer might be a little bit tougher. But at least I can have somewhere that's a little more quiet. And if someone sees me sitting there with my Bible, they're probably not going to engage in a ton of conversation. They might say, good morning. They might. And say something, but. But they're not going to sit there. And have a 20 minute conversation. With me, if they see me sitting. Sitting there with my Bible and my journal. They're going to know that that's like, Okay. You. You want a little bit of alone time and that's great. And maybe it looks. It's like going and sitting in your car. If it's not too cold where you live. Like my mom did, that was her thing. And it has been something. I have often done as an adult myself. Self I have sat in the car and I've even caught my husband doing it too. Just sitting in his. A scar and recentering. Entering before you come in the house. So you're not bringing in all of the baggage of the day, but you're able to. Just kind of relinquish it there. And move forward. And be present with the people who you love and care about. Um, Another way that you can incorporate some quiets and some processing time and some prayer time. Is. Looking ahead. Head and seeing if it's possible, if you are, if it's actual Thanksgiving sneak away to mass. I think that's such a cool way to just. Excuse. Excuse yourself. For a little bit from what's going on. And go to mass. And start your day with that Thanksgiving and the sacrifice of the mass. Highly highly encouraged. That if that is something that you are capable. Bubble of doing. If there isn't N a mass time you can also look for a perpetual adoration Chapel I know that where i live there are two adoration chapels one is closed over thanksgiving they kind of shut down And On wednesday It never closes and any point in time Just sneak into a church and Spend a few minutes you tell him at five I am in the morning Am. I Am. or whatever it is The person who offered the forgotten Forgotten grocery you can pop into a chapel or And it have to be long but just right you are going to For the people. If you could have quiet time Such valuable most of us it's ideal conditions Always Ideal condition because about taking that time but really fish time this everyone else because we Build that interior The interior active life They go together but we know that the other We at filling ourselves with superior. Periods Because the active from That interior like, uh And the other, just incorporate this isn't something that. And Having the quiet time. Equal way that you can bond driving Living on your own/Is listening st// And. And scripture time and time again, we see the Lord retreating to. To pray. And he was As Always praying But i noticed. More lately how After a big event after a miracle after He's completely emptied himself On to others He retreats and he Praise and So/
Beautiful souls, thank you again for journeying with me. If you have been blessed by this episode, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review. Be sure to screenshot it, share it on your social media stories, and don't forget to tag me on Instagram or Facebook at Kylie M. Hine. Stay persistent in prayer, protect your peace, and as always, share the light of Christ with everyone around you.
