I haven't made good time since my first child was born.
Maybe today's drive from Austin to Amarillo was good time. I'm not really sure how long it took, but I did enjoy the beautiful green country north of the city on highway 183. I prayed periodically. I listened to an entire Grisham novel on cd. I ate chicken and dumplings at Crackerbarrel. I daydreamed.
Two things I didn't do -- look at my watch or speed. Neither of these were intentional decisions. The thought just never occurred to me that I needed to be somewhere at a particular time.
I know why I usually speed and am stressed out while I drive. Driving feels like lost time to me. It's downright unproductive. I get uptight when something feels unproductive. Here is a list of activities that, much to my shame, I have been tempted to view as unproductive lately:
- Reading books and magazines
- Exercise
- Prayer
- Playing in the backyard with the kids
- Sleep
- Staying in contact with friends who live far away.
What's on your list of important things you want to do, but feel unproductive?
Maybe a more telling inventory for me would be a list of bullet points describing the things in my life that I view as productive or a good use of time. These are my addictions -- work, achievement, approval, "fruit." And I fully expect to be jonesing for them in the next 48 hours.
For now, though, I feel like I'm making good time -- not wasting it or exploiting it, but mostly ignoring it.
7 comments:
I've made that drive many times. I'm always in a rush to get out of West Texas and into Colorado! Enjoy it all, man. Praying for you bigtime.
FYI, Betty Blake said some really cool things about you in her message yesterday. You're missed, man.
This really spoke to me, thanks for sharing. We had a hard weekend realizing we aren't making progress with the priorities. We haven't moved forward with singles as we'd like, our house is still a messy work in progress, there is a growing list of people we'd like to have for dinner, and so on.
It is perplexing how even time used towards the goals can be unproductive if your mind is on the next thing or other priorities. I even try to read books, send snail mail, engage in my creative outlets in order to keep a "balance" but those too become unfruitful because I am preoccupied with the next thing.
I wind up feeling like we aren't getting things done, I never can relax, and there just isn't enough time.
You've exhorted me to do my own inventory, perhaps of smaller obtainable goals within the big goal. I'll need to make a schedule with the inventory so that when it is time to paint, I can paint without thinking about setting up 8 @ 8 or calling an old friend (there will be other time allotted for those). Maybe then I will be more productive and I won't feel as though I've lost time...
Enjoy the drive, I do love West Texas! We're praying.
"Do less, Be more." (I totally forgot the author of this quote.)
This is totally unrelated to your post above, but today is going to be a big day, somehow. I pray you feel him in powerful ways today.
Maybe I sense this because 4 people I dearly love are in route to Israel as I type this. Maybe it's becuase I spent a lot of time in James this morning and prayed with renewed passion. Maybe it's because at 8:14 am I was stuck with such incerdibly sharp pains in my back, that I couldn't even breath or speak. Out of no where, I felt struck. I looked at the clock in the kitchen for some reason, becuase I felt led to make note of the time (which seems odd to me now). 8:14 am.
Poor BW didn't know what was wrong with me. As I sat there unable to speak, I prayed that somehow this all meant something and that God was using me. I hadn't done anything to hurt my back, it didn't make any sense to me.
As BW was talking to me and trying to figure out what was wrong with me, I felt led to pray for strength. Not my own strength, but for my 4 friends and your's. I prayed that whatever you and them might be carring "on your backs" inside or out, would be released. I prayed for 30 minutes while the stabs came and went and I began to cry, becuase I knew this was what I was supposed to be doing. I didn't have fear becuase while I was in pain, i felt protected.
I knew that today, Tuesday May 15th at 8:14 am, God was in action right in the middle of my kitchen. Today is a glorious day.
My back is still hurting me, but nothing like it was an hour ago. I believe there are good reasons for this pain. I am thankful it has simmered down, but also thankful I still have a portion to carry with me. I will joyfully carry it and continue to pray....
PS, My husband said my dyslexia was "all over the place" in that last post. Sorry about that....it looks right to me when I write it!
Maybe I should pray about that?!?
Job 8:14
14 What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web.
Proverbs 8:14
14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power.
"Come to me..and I will give you rest"
You don't have to be productive. It's ok. Your worth is not gained.
"My burden is light."
What that is like? Society wants us to think a light burden would lower the bar. That we would be lulled into a burger flipping coma, our productivity would come to a halt, and we would let everyone (including God) down.
But remember, as Boundaries so wonderfully points out, it's not our load that is lightened but our burden.
Imagine being unbound from the pressures of being unsuccessful, the guilt of the unproductive list, the fear of spiritual oppression. It's not a life of dull fast food. It's brainstorming with the sharpest team and no resource limitations. It's game seven with God-like hops. "Backside pick for Beasley. Christ with the pass - it's an alley-oop to Beasley for the win!" We are freed up for greatness. We are elevated to excel. We are supported and invigorated by the challenge. We are strong and attractive and beautiful.
"Come to me."
There is no time to lose.
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