Tag Archives: Life basics

All Work and No Play

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…makes Johnna a dull girl. Doing a good day’s work isn’t the same as cramming two day’s worth of work into a single marathon workday. I want to be a hard worker, not a workaholic…

…and I’ve been busy for days – leading classes, working on library projects and programs, hosting a dinner for twenty last night with my husband. With a blizzard keeping me home today, I could have gotten a jump on several writing projects, summer garden plans, and packed away all the dishes from last night’s party. But my husband and son are also home, so we did some computer work and filled the bird feeder. We got the most of the post-party work done, putting furniture and dishes back in their usual places. But we also played a couple of games, took a daily news quiz, and went outside to feel the snow and wind. For the first time in my life, I saw lightning and heard thunder while walking in a blizzard – amazing and scary and unforgettable. 

Had I done more work today, I’d have lived a lesser life. Sometimes the blessing is in the work I’ve left undone.

Back to Basics: Working

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Popping the Question

I’m not talking about a marriage proposal. It’s a question that’s asked so often, by so many, in so many circumstances. After the usual Hi/How are you/Nice to meet you, it’s almost inevitable in any situation where people first meet:

What do you do?

Unless you are a child, you know that the words for a job/career are implied. The question isn’t really about what you and I do; it’s about what we do to earn money, and the answers we give to this question have immense social weight and interpersonal consequences. Wonderful conversations or awkward silence and quick departures? For better or for worse, it’s all too often about our answers to this question. Our working life defines who we are, sometimes just as much for ourselves as for others.

How do we answer such a question? How do we react to the answers we get when we ask it? For many of us, working keeps us busy for so many hours, days, months, years, and decades. How could it not be important?

For all the times we ask and answer this working question, we don’t seem to meditate on its importance very often, especially in light of our spiritual lives. So let’s explore this daily activity, this life basic. To begin, pick a time when asking or answering this question affected you in an unexpected way. If you are feeling bold, share it with me or someone else. Who knows where such a sharing could lead…

Here is mine:

I must have been asked this question a dozen times the day I arrived on campus to begin my theological studies: people playing Frisbee on the quad, the housing assistant who gave me my dorm keys, a few people who lived on my floor, several seminarians who stopped me while I was unpacking my car (none offered to help me with my boxes, either before or after asking what I did). Since I had two different work situations at the time, I had two answers: teacher/site director for a test prep company and bartender. The teacher answer usually got a positive if disinterested reaction; the bartending answer sent many scurrying away quickly, left others without a clue how to respond, and brought an appreciative smile to the face of a few adventurous souls.

Lord, bless the work of my hands.

Sleep in Earthly Peace

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I’m not prone to insomnia, but every so often it pays a visit. Usually I know why – a loved one in trouble, an upcoming event, anxiety over a difficult problem or project, conflict with someone I love. The times I’ve been awake for reasons unknown are in the single digits – a blessing I don’t give thanks for nearly enough. In those sleepless hours, I have mulled over things done and left undone, rehearsed imaginary dialogues and explanations, and strained to see what the intentions of others might have in store for the world in general and me in specific. I can’t say any of it helped. My eyelids didn’t close. Losing sleep only made whatever caused it worse.

No one person can predict or control what happens in this uncertain world. The good, bad, and indifferent among us all have the means to create a better world or destroy a beloved part of it. I can’t control the actions of others, yet I will live with the consequences. So will everyone else. It’s not exactly a reassuring truth, is it? How can I fall asleep every night in such a reality?

There are two truths that help me. The first, my grandmother taught me: get up, do your best every day, and don’t worry about what is beyond that.  In Biblical terms: don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34) The second: whatever happens, God won’t lose track of me or anyone else.  

With such truths in hand, its time for bed…

I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. Psalm 4:8

Back to Basics

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The holidays are officially over. I haven’t taken down the Christmas tree or the outside lights, but I’ve stopped turning them on. I miss the sparkling on the shrubs, especially now that they are covered in snow, glowing softly through their chilly, powdery blankets. But it’s time to take up the usual activities, putting away Christmas and New Year celebrations for the next eleven months. I am ready. But what to write about now?

With all the political nastiness, all the uncertainty, all the fear and anger, it would be easy to add my own frustrations to the cacophony. But what earthly good would it bring? There’s a difference between standing up and speaking out for what I believe in and releasing a torrent of negativity. Righteous anger and action are not the same as self-righteous rhetoric and fearful reaction. At this year’s beginning, I am going to do my best to remember and honor the difference. So for me, it’s back to basic questions: what is necessary, life-giving, world blessing? What is beautiful? How do I give back to this holy world?

Years ago, I read a few books in a series that explored fundamental actions/elements of life. Some were amazing, others pedantic, but I did like the topics. As I begin 2017, I’ll take a look at them. I hope you do, too -and I hope you let me know what you think. Dialogue is so much more interesting than monologue…peace and blessings.