Investing... In Eternal Paradise
I had a conversation with a friend recently about investing - except she's in the business of investing time into getting our youth into heaven. I thought this would be a great subject to write about.
As you may have guessed from the title alone, I wanted to take some time to write about our investment of time and energy in preparing for heaven. When I consider my life as an investor and the strategy I've chosen, I find that there are a lot of similarities between my investing life and spiritual life.
In my investment plan, I stated that Camilla and I are focusing the majority of our money on the Schwab Total Stock Market Index. We plan to do that by dollar-cost averaging: the technique of simply investing a fixed amount of money in the same stock/index at regular intervals over a long period of time. The hope is that with intentional choices, consistency, and diligence, our investment account will grow to help us reach our goals quickly.
I draw parallels and see that the small incremental things I do in my investment account are similar to the small incremental things I do for my spiritual life. I hope that with intentional choices, consistency, and diligence, my spirituality will grow to the point where I am ready for my judgment in heaven so that I may spend eternity in paradise. Just like dollar-cost averaging, spiritual growth requires regular intervals of prayer and thanksgiving over a long period of time - ideally that interval is 24 hours or less throughout my entire life!
To me, daily prayer is pretty obvious, but what if you don't intentionally pray daily? To you, I say "that's okay" and let's try to focus on our weekly Sunday prayers at mass and get better from there - pay attention to the readings and the homily, be present and intentional in your prayers, and keep trying every week.
Aside from that, here are some suggestions in improving your spirituality:
Daily reminders for yourself - Set a reminder in a location that you visit every day (your bathroom, your office, etc.) and say one or two prayers. If you're there every single day, you have no excuse, right?
Read the daily readings each day on the USCCB website. This is readily available for you each day, so why not use it to your advantage? Take some time to read each day and reflect on it. It's a good habit to develop.
Practice gratitude - Giving thanks to God for the blessings in your life can do wonders. Take some time each day to reflect on the positive things that happened throughout the day. In the darkness of bad days, there is surely to be at least one thing that you can focus on to make it better. Be grateful and give thanks to God.
Go to confession - As Catholics, we should recognize the power of the sacrament of Reconciliation. Take some time to examine your conscience and be honest with yourself. Ask for forgiveness and be intentional about how you'll do better next time.
Pray for your enemies - This one is tough pill to swallow. Jesus wants us to love our neighbors and guess what, that includes our enemies. Praying for your enemies may change your heart to accept them for who they are, even if they don't reciprocate. With this acceptance, you may find healing in your heart, which will undoubtedly lead to spiritual growth.
Continued education - What about learning more about our faith? What's stopping you from reading more about our church and its teachings? Consider reading the Catechism if you haven't already and you may be inspired in other ways to increase your spirituality.
Volunteering - Helping others is a great way to practice what we preach. Assisting the less fortunate in their time of need in a great way to grow in your faith. Whether it be with others or by yourself, having good intentions and acting on them will no doubt help you grow in humility and spiritual growth.
Praying with others - I used to have a habit of defining my spirituality based on my relationships with others. It eventually led me to finding my own relationship with God, but it took time to realize it. I only really recommend this because this type of spiritual growth can help you as well as others, but it should not be the only time you are seeking spiritual growth.
Is it going to be easy? Not at all. Will it be worth it? Absolutely! I have found that in the last 10 years or so, I have been working on my spirituality and I can recognize that I have a long way to go, but I can at least say I've been working on it little by little. The old me can hardly hold a candle the person that I am today and I hope that the future me will be even better. At the end of the day, if we are willing to spend our time pursuing money and retirement, I think we should spend an equal amount of time and effort, if not more, on preparing ourselves for eternity in heaven.
What are your daily or weekly prayer routines like? Share them with us at faithandfi@gmail.com!
Peace,
Khang