Earlier this week I posted a picture of my lovely dog and a pile of his hair. He’s part husky; we go through a de-floofing every couple of days. A (dog-wise) friend made the comment “the gift that keeps on giving!” And it was true, as that giant pile of fluff got tossed outside, and I watched birds picked it off the ground to take to their nests.
There are so many things in this life that follow this pattern; revealing goodness and purpose to us over and over again, often in ways we may not recognise or even understand. The wasted fur providing warmth; the pumpkin skins (and inner goop) adding to the mix in the composter, which will offer nutrients to a future crop. Such opulence, that even what we reject continues to contribute to the bigger picture.
I find faith is like this. We have God’s grace and love lavished upon us, with endless generosity. The infinite goodness that pours over us changes us, if we let it. And we are invited into the cycle of giving, as we extend grace and love to those around us.
“We love because God first loved us.” 1 John 4.19
This love is the gift that keeps on giving. We will never be unloved or unlovable; we are already and always recipients of love. What a gift to be intentional with the love that we give: to those that we love, those we like, those we don’t even know. What a gift of faith to know that the love we extend may also continue to flow in ways unimaginable and unknown to us!
I had the best plans for productivity for my day off this week. I even had a list made up!
…and that’s okay!
Because other things happened, things that brought a smile to my face and filled my soul.
Instead of getting words on the page with my writing partner, we had a lovely extended conversation (that we were long overdue for). The laundry didn’t quite make it to the washing machine; but the dogs invited me into some energetic playtime. The meal planning wasn’t even begun, but I laughed for over an hour with a friend as we caught up on the last few busy weeks. I progressed in reading the novel on the nightstand. I procrastinated on unpacking some knick-knacks, I avoided the sermon prep, and the dust bunnies were still prevalent on the floor.
In all these things, I didn’t meet the quantifiable measure of ‘productive’. And I don’t mind that. Partly, as none of the “to-do” items had a strict deadline – they can all be deferred to the future.
Partly, as what I was doing was joy-bringing, and nothing was being harmed by re-aligning my plans.
In all this, I wonder if we might do well to re-consider and re-define what it means to “be productive.” Our society does seem to value quantifiable hyper-productivity. Though while there is benefit at times to getting those ‘must-do’ items crossed off our lists, there are also times when something more important comes up.
Supportive conversations produce immeasurable networks.
Making memories produces healthy levels of happiness.
Laughter with friends produces quality connections that last years.
While society may consider my day off to have been UNproductive, I think it was a good day – and was OTHERLYproductive. It’s not a bad thing to unplug from plans, and we shouldn’t feel badly when we aren’t able to catalogue what we’ve done in a day. When we do what is fulfilling, we are resting our souls and re-creating (in recreation).
We often remember that God rested on the seventh day (the day of completion); we don’t know how much God laughed and played and rested. But we can trust that God did – and remind ourselves to do the same.
