{"id":161,"date":"2009-08-29T09:40:49","date_gmt":"2009-08-29T09:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/whos-the-saddest-person-you-know.html"},"modified":"2009-08-29T09:40:49","modified_gmt":"2009-08-29T09:40:49","slug":"whos-the-saddest-person-you-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/whos-the-saddest-person-you-know.html","title":{"rendered":"Who&#8217;s the Saddest Person You Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With just days between now and back-to-school, its time to play catch up on a long list of have-to-dos and want-to-dos that were either lost or buried in the shuffle over the course of a very busy summer. Of course my busy life is no different than anyone else&#8217;s. Most people I know have family, work and personal obligations and aspirations that extend well beyond the typical 24-hour day. This, of course, makes time a precious commodity in a busy society. One that needs to be managed, prioritized and wisely meted out lest we fall behind or, God forbid, miss something important.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Of course this begs the question: what is really important and how do I make that determination? As I examined that question this morning a simple thought plopped into my head.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Who is the saddest person you know?\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I ignored it at first, but it lingered. Who is the saddest person I know? An individual came to mind. A young woman who is struggling with addiction and self-sabotage.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As I thought more about this young woman and her circumstance, I realized that she is one of hundreds, thousands&#8230;perhaps millions&#8230;of other people who are out there struggling. People who need more than the occasional feel-good service trip or mindlessly delivered donation check to get out of their own way. What if an act of love in the direction of this woman and others like her was my first &#8220;to-do&#8221; today and everything else was shifted to fit the time that remains? I&#8217;m not sure, but I plan to find out.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So, who&#8217;s the saddest person you know?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With just days between now and back-to-school, its time to play catch up on a long list of have-to-dos and want-to-dos that were either lost or buried in the shuffle over the course of a very busy summer. Of course my busy life is no different than anyone else&#8217;s. Most people I know have family,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-growth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who&#039;s the Saddest Person You Know? - Flirting with Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/whos-the-saddest-person-you-know.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who&#039;s the Saddest Person You Know? - Flirting with Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With just days between now and back-to-school, its time to play catch up on a long list of have-to-dos and want-to-dos that were either lost or buried in the shuffle over the course of a very busy summer. Of course my busy life is no different than anyone else&#8217;s. Most people I know have family,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/whos-the-saddest-person-you-know.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Flirting with Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-29T09:40:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joan Ball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who's the Saddest Person You Know? - Flirting with Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/whos-the-saddest-person-you-know.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who's the Saddest Person You Know? - Flirting with Faith","og_description":"With just days between now and back-to-school, its time to play catch up on a long list of have-to-dos and want-to-dos that were either lost or buried in the shuffle over the course of a very busy summer. 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