Chet Collins's Blog: Catholic Husband, page 7

Gratitude

And just like that, the end of 2024 is upon us. We celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, and many of us will be traveling across town or across the country to spend time with family.

My daughter asked me what we’re thankful for on Thanksgiving. I told her that we’re thankful to God for all the blessings in our lives. The debt of gratitude we owe to God surrounds us; from the very relationship He seeks to share with us, to the fact that we’re sitting in our climate controlled homes reading this blog...

Written for Me

Though I haven’t committed to routine self-improvement in the past two years, there was a recent time in my life where it was always top of mind. The last big undertaking was in 2022 when I completed Ascension Press’ Bible in a Year podcast. That was the first time in my life that I read the Bible and truly studied it as a comprehensive work, and the payoff has been huge.

Although the Bible was authored thousands of years ago and 5,000 miles away, it applies to my life today as it did to the auth...

Thank You

I have written many posts over the years marking Veterans Day. This is a day for us to pause to not only thank those who gave us everything, but the many, many more who gave part of their lives to protect and defend us and our way of life. This self-sacrifice is among the highest of human ideals and for that, all I have to say today is, thank you.

One Second

On Saturday, I made a scheduled site visit for work. It’s a bit of a hike to the office, just over 2.5 hours, but the drive is mostly on big open roads. It was a normal Saturday, almost boring.

I wrapped up my work and swung into a local gas station to fuel up and grab a snack. After getting my gas, I went inside and quickly picked up my food. Checking out, though, was weird. I tried to use the self-checkout, but it was painfully slow between my four items. The fourth one just would not scan. The...

Overflowing

A good way to think about our lives, especially our spiritual lives, is as a cup. We can choose what we fill it up with. Things of beauty, prayer, the Sacraments, and acts of virtue fill up our cup to the point where it overflows.

When our cup is overflowing, it’s extraordinarily difficult for sin to enter into our lives. We are fulfilled, living life by God’s design, and there is simply no room for temptation to gain a foothold.

In the same way with time and our day, when we fill up our day with...

One Thousand

To understand life is to understand impermanence. As we grow, experience, and learn new information, we are changed as people. We become ourselves as the sum total of the people we meet, the things we do, and the books we read.

I started this project, Catholic Husband in March of 2013 with the idea of working as a writer. I did become a writer, but by practicing this craft for more than a decade, I actually set myself up perfectly for my current job.

This is my 1,000th blog post. Taken together, ...

Things of Heaven

For the many hours that I’m awake during the day, there are many things on my mind. I have what I need to do now, what I need to do next, and the random thought of what needs to be done in the future. From meal prep, to instant scheduling decisions, to the project at hand, my mind works all throughout the day.

To put it simply, I spend almost all day thinking of the things of man.

Stress builds through the day as my lists grow, and time runs short. I manage not only my schedule, but the schedule ...

Starting Over

In the 5th grade, my teacher, Mr. Gleeves, would start most days by announcing, “Today is the first day of the rest of your lives.” That was over 25 years ago, but now as I sit down to write this, those words are coming to the fore.

Life is considerably more complicated than it was to my 5th grade-self. I have my children to tend to, a job, and all the responsibilities that come with being an adult. It’s a lot to manage, and it means that I take my eye off the ball regularly.

I’m not a robot, and...

Forgetting to Shift

Life, and parenting, is full of shifts. From infants to teenagers, our children progress at a rapid clip. But it’s easy to find ourselves answering today’s challenges with yesterday’s solutions. Our children are always adapting to their changing worlds, but for adults, we can forget.

Small Moments

When we aspire to greater things, we tend to fall into the trap of making big plans. I’ve never run a marathon, and frankly never run. So if I decided to run a marathon next summer, it’d be easy to get lost in the planning.