Productive

I had the best plans for productivity for my day off this week. I even had a list made up!

…and very little of those things happened.
…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.