I took an extra long weekend this week, leaving my day job for a while to catch up on other portions of my life. On Friday, feeling slightly winded by my journeys of the day, I stopped to count the number of completed errands...ten...and then looked at the long remaining list of jobs and tasks. The list seemed heavy in my hand, weighted by places to go, things to do, people to see.
We always face the temptation to ignore our accomplishments and to focus all of our attention on the things that lie yet before us, but the Time Management system advocated in Genesis chapter one advises us otherwise. God first breaks the act of creation up into more manageable pieces, and then pauses after each managed piece to say "hey, that's pretty good."
Whether we have cooked a meal, worked a day at our job, cleaned a bathroom, or weeded a flower bed, we're invited to pause, to contemplate the before and after of this simple moment in our lives and celebrate its basic goodness.
I spent most of Saturday in the garden, hoeing weeds, framing raised beds, spreading mulch. Last night I was too pooped to take it in, but today, instead of tearing back into the pile of mulch in the driveway, I walked around the garden and examined yesterday's work.
Not only does this pause for celebration break up the endless desperate hurtle into the future, it also renews and reaffirms. When I pick the pitchfork and four pronged hoe back up tomorrow, it will be with energy renewed by my pleasure at the work already accomplished.
Pause every little bit. Look back with affirmation.
I've accomplished something here. Something pretty good.
Bat Cat
9 years ago
Posts
