What or Who is Lord of My Life?

We’ve come to the end of the Church year on this Feast of Christ the King. We are again called to reflect on if we’ve made Christ the King and Lord of our life, and if we haven’t, to start anew as we begin Advent in a week.

Even when we’re trying to be good faithful people and stay close to God, many things can inadvertently become Lord of our lives: sports, politics, people, family, hobbies, personal passions, shopping, traveling, work, our homes, and so on if our focus is imbalanced and if any of these have taken up more time, attention, and gifts of ours than they should be.

What can that look like? Maybe I waste hours on watching sports or politics or doom scrolling. Maybe I’m endlessly searching on Zillow for a new home. Maybe I can’t stop accumulating goods I want or stay out of stores where I waste time shopping for things I don’t need. Maybe I have constant wanderlust and can’t stop thinking about the next vacation we’re going on. Maybe my work/family demands take up too much space in my life that I rationalize that I don’t even have time for private prayer, service, or other things my faith expects of me. Or maybe I eat and drink too much in such a way that my stomach has become the lord of my life.

This doesn’t just happen… we make personal choices every day to put one thing before another, and slowly but surely, our hearts become full of either God or all this other stuff. We make other lords in our life by virtue of what we’re thinking about, doing, buying, and spending our lives on. 

Here are some questions to ponder that may help you answer that question of who or what is Lord of your life:

1. Where does my time, talent and treasure go?
2. Is God’s will and plan for my life the focus of my decisions - or is my will and my plan for my life the focus? 
3. What consumes my thoughts and attention – the things of God or the things of this world?
4. How do I spend my days – on things God has called me to or on other things that I choose or that others ask of me?
5. Are my gifts and resources building the kingdom of God or are they building up my kingdom?

This Sunday is our annual check-up: Is Christ the Lord and King of my mind, heart, and life or have other lords and kings crept their way into my life?