Siobhan Scullion
Hi! I’m Siobhan and I’ve been working with Hearts+Minds for a few months now, but was a contributing blogger as well as an avid reader before joining the team.
What attracted me to Hearts+Minds? Well … have you ever spent time browsing the internet, or scrolling through social media and when you finally set your phone down you just feel … yuck? I know I have.
Perhaps it’s the realisation that I’ll never get that time back, or the fact that I got so distracted I now feel I have brain fog. I never felt like this when I spent time reading through Hearts+Minds.
If there was one word I could wish to be described as, I think it would be ‘serene.’ Yet on most days, I think the opposite is more apt! Living in a society that is digitally driven, where our lives are measured by ‘productivity,’ whether we’re conscious of it or not, means we can find it hard to simply rest and just be. How many self-help books are out there to encourage us to do just that? But it’s easier said than done - otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many books! I know I’ve gone through plenty of days feeling restless, agitated, and anxious. One of the biggest challenges I face in my parenting and working life is the feeling that I am constantly switched on, always rushing from one thing to the next because it seems as though there is always something to be done.
Made for more
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” - St Augustine
These words from St Augustine, one of the greatest minds of Christianity, are words we could easily read in one of those positive posts on social media. You know the ones that give you a little inspiration or thought for the day. When I sit with those words, I have to really let them sink in, to allow myself to be really convinced of it. What if my restlessness, my agitation, those anxious thoughts are there because what I really want and what I really need is for my heart to rest in Him? It’s only by resting completely in Him, that my heart can become capable of loving others. Besides, I only have the one heart to love everyone - God, my husband and my children.
Sometimes we might have this idea that we’ll get all our ‘stuff’ out of the way and tick off all the tasks on the to-do list and then we can get to the ‘God stuff.’ But that’s impossible because surely we do everything with the same heart? And God is there in all of it. We can’t compartmentalise the different parts of our lives; everything in our hearts and minds can be lifted up to Him. He is there with us in our moments of agitation and in our times of serenity too.
No matter what our interests are - whether it’s books, culture, interiors, beauty, fashion, or film - all of it is an opportunity to meet God because He is present in all of it if we let Him in. And this is what I love about Hearts+Minds; you’ll find a blog or a podcast on all aspects of life because all the parts of our life can be a way to know God, and an opportunity to let our hearts rest in Him.
If you want to hear more …
In this recent podcast episode done for the 75th Anniversary of Opus Dei in Ireland, I share my experience of being a mother and wife, even amid the chaos of small children, God's mercy and love are ever-present.
