Heroic Minute

The snooze button

I watched a Youtube clip the other day on the 'heroic minute' and it really struck a chord with me, and I could see that in failing in the first challenge of the day, it was kinda setting me up to fail in more challenges that presented throughout my day!

St Josemaria Escriva said the heroic minute, is that moment when your alarm goes off in the morning and you refuse to concede even one moment to laziness!

I've noticed when I get up the moment my alarm goes off, I have that time to spend in prayer, grounding myself and aligning my thoughts and plans with Gods. I give Him the opportunity to strengthen me, counsel me, and prepare me for the day ahead no matter what life throws my way. I see it a bit like fueling my car ready for a long journey.

However, if i hit that snooze button once, then I find I hit it a lot more than just the once, and before I know it, I'm jumping out of bed scrambling to get ready to leave the house, and with no time to spend in prayer. I still do pray, but its rushed and almost automatic! My day tends to go downhill from there. I'm not as prepared, I'm more likely to fall into sin, particularly those pesky venial ones, you know when someone cuts you up in traffic on the way to work...

Then I tend to have experienced the day as a 'bad day'. It's no worse that the day before, but I was less able to cope well with it and so it effects me. Before you know it, I crash when I get home, eat something quick and less healthy, then plonk down in front of mindless tv for the evening. I get engrossed in that, then end up missing my evening prayer as i just want to see one more episode, then I end up going to bed later than planned, and you guessed it... come morning the cycle repeats. All because I conceded the first battle of the day!

Thanks St Josemaria Escriva for pointing out to me, that something as simple as refusing to hit the snooze button can help me on my path to holiness!

Let battle commence......