THE URGENT ONE AND THE IMPORTANT ONE

I´ve been thinking about this topic since the beginning of December. It´s not so easy to recognize what is actually urgent and what is really important. For example, everyone who goes to an emergency department is sure about his illness´ importance. He has a pain. It´s his own pain and it´s important to them. Maybe his pain is even the most important and the only thing all over the world.

In fact, their pain is important because they are worried about it and because it doesn´t let them keep on their normal life. But when they go to hospital with their 'important pain', the doctor may realize that it´s not too urgent – perhaps a simple toothache, or stomach ache after having eaten too much, or the same headache you have been usually suffering for six months. They are not important, however, we don’t know. All of us we aren´t so clever to make out between the urgent one and the important one. We need another person helping us.

When I have a lot of things to do in a short time – like this week – I´m not able to establish my priorities. And, what´s more, even if I find difficult to select what to do firstly.  It´s impossible to extend the day so I must decide and project what to do and what to do first.

It´s stupid to think about doing only and always important things. Following this path, for example, I would fail several subjects. But it´s also crazy to decide to do the urgent ones. In this way, what about living with peace and common sense? So, praying or sleeping?, effectiveness or relationships?, studies or pastoral?, speeding up or braking?, me or the others?

Therefore, it seems that we aren´t able to decide properly on our own. We need another person to talk about it. Especially, we need God to give us a skyline of meaning. Things are not urgent or important. No white or black but white and black. And our challenge is to discern, with helping God, what to do in each situation.

Things are not solely urgent or important to me. Maybe sometimes they will be. But so many times I´ll have to ask myself: what about urgency and importance of my things to the other? A challenge that will last a lifetime.

BY Alberto Cano SJ