A Time for Being Busy

Good morning, God, and thank you for this new day in our lives. It promises to be a busy one for me instead of a day of rest, but I'm in a busy period, and what happens, happens. I'll have my rest soon enough, so this busyness is very tolerable.

It's something that's fascinating to witness in my life--the up and the down periods, the times when my schedule is so packed that I have almost no free time for anything, and the times when I have more free time than I even know what to do with. It's perplexing sometimes, but I am learning to live with it.

I think the main danger would be in making the busy times permanent--starting in some sort of work, for example, that didn't allow me to do other things that I love doing. I love teaching, but I also love coaching cross-country with middle-schoolers, and writing, and running. If I were to have work that didn't allow me to do any of those other things that I love doing, I'm not sure what my life would be like. I'm pretty sure that I'd be looking for a way out of that work--I certainly wouldn't resign myself to it and allow myself to suffer through it each day. Unless, perhaps, it was a job that helped many, many people, and that probably wouldn't get done if I weren't doing it.

Hmm.

A response:

You're welcome for the day. I hope that you're able to make the most of it, no matter how busy you may be.

Being busy is an important topic to focus on sometimes, for I certainly did not create you and your companions on earth to simply be workers. Your lives were not designed to fit a corporate need or a law firm's need or a hospital's need. Your jobs are very important because they give you something to work for and they give you a sense of accomplishment and ways to earn a living financially, but they are not meant to take up so much of your life that you're unable to enjoy other aspects of your lives. It's a shame that so many people have to make appointments to grab a cup of coffee with their friends; that so many people never get out into nature because their weekends are filled with the chores that they weren't able to do during the week; that so many people rarely sit down to a relaxed meal with their loved ones because they're still at work doing things that benefit their bosses.

A time of being busy is different. You know that from when you taught high school and coached three sports--the seasons came to an end, and you were able to rest. Rest does come in those situations, and they literally do follow the "for everything there is a season" rule. You can work eighty hours a week for a few weeks on a worthy task, and things are fine; when you do that for years on end, though, you've put your life out of balance and you're most definitely neglecting other things in your life that could be even more important than your work.

I wish you well during this busy time. You're in it for the right reasons, I think, and it will benefit your students greatly. Try to enjoy it, even. Your rest time will come soon enough.