A productive day?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I am someone who likes to be productive.  I want to seize the day; and I want to not only be busy, but to grasp every opportunity to get something worthwhile done - to make progress so that I and the word around me are in a better place than at the start of the day.  And sometimes I have been productive: when I was working in the corporate world I was often met with comments like: "how have you managed to get all this done?"  But I also have days when I am busy all day and yet get to the end and feel like I've achieved nothing at all.   Or days when I look at my phone and suddenly find that 30mins have gone by and I've just been mindlessly scrolling!  I'm sure we all have those days.  As someone who has always desired to be super-productive, I find my inability to live up to that ideal frustrating.

In my current phase of training as an Ordinand, the desire and need to draw on my own productivity is intensified.  I am a student like many other students: no one is paying me to sit and my desk and read during certain hours, after which I can clock off - there's no one to stop me from having a nap right now.  I have to draw on my own self-discipline and wisdom to plan my day and get things done.  Added to that is the fact that the things I could do in the course of my studies are pretty much limitless - there's always another book I could read or another question I could ponder.  Third, I need to balance study against the urgent requirements of the day, keeping the admin done, the demands of ministry (although small at this point), and the interruptions from some other task demanding my attention.  Finally, not only should this time of training be academically productive, but it should be spiritually productive.  I don't just want to read the books and do the essays: I want to spend time in prayer, time reflecting personally on the God's word, time building my own, personal understanding and faith beyond what the demands of my college and diocese want to see evidenced by the end of my studies.  That's my context, but I'm sure others face similar challenges, albeit in an endless variety of ways.

And I'm equally sure that there's a wealth of practical information - both Christian and secular, about how we can be productive.  And even in the secular world that wealth of advice is not just about getting lots done, but being wise with our time, setting goals that mean something to you, cultivating healthy attitudes and learning from mistakes.  Productivity is not the same as 'activity': productivity is about progress and moving forward.  And so whilst keeping my house tidy is something that must be done, modern productivity wants us to lift our eyes beyond just 'keeping the lights on' to reach forward towards our goals.  Anyone who works in a job with some control over how they plan their day will find that they need to balance urgent tasks against longer-term development, and even my Office 365 package knew this when I was working, it's AI feature encouraging me to set aside 'focus time' and giving me feedback on what connections I'd made.  I'm sure there's plenty of good advice out there for me and I'm sure I'll need it. 

But when reflecting on a day earlier this term when, not only had the productivity been low, but I also felt like I'd failed spectacularly in the arena of 'being a good Christian' and 'modelling good behaviour', I was forced to re-think what a spiritually productive day looks like.  

Because God's idea of productivity in our lives is very different.  Paul writes that: [the Father] chose us in [Jesus] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.  (Ephesians 1:4-5)  God's work is this: to adopt us as his sons and daughters.  In sharing with the sonship of Jesus, who took all our brokenness on himself, we are blameless and holy (bearing no guilt that cuts through our relationship with the father), and called children of God - for God's own pleasure!

In many ways God's work in our lives is already done: we are already adopted.  However, the ongoing work of the Spirit is to make this a lived reality - otherwise known as growing spiritual fruit.  What is that spiritual fruit?  In my opinion, the commonly cited list in Galatians 5:23-24 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) just contains some of the textures, flavours and attributes. The fruit itself is described a chapter earlier: God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father! (Galatians 4:6).  The fruit of the Spirit is the spirit of sonship*, the spirit of adoption: knowing and worshipping God as Father, through being united with Jesus.  And we can only do this by coming to the cross: Jesus tells us to abide, or remain in him in order to bear fruit (John 15:5), and that fruit is ripened when we cry, "Abba, Father!" not just with our lips, but with our lives.

What does this look like?  Here's some examples of a spiritually productive day:

1) A day when enjoying God's goodness and gifts has turned you back into worship of him 

The Westminster Catechism starts with a statement on our purpose in life:  "Man’s[sic] chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever"[1].   God adopted us into his family for his pleasure (Ephesians 1:5).  We can share in that joy.   In times of doubt and despair I follow the inspiration of the Psalmists and reflect back on what God has done in the past - as recorded in the Bible, in the lives of Christians down the ages, and in my life.  And there is always a way to enjoy God in the here and now.  My children and I left the house to go to school in a state of stress and rush the other day, and then immediately saw a beautiful tree, its leaves turned red with the coming of Autumn.  The sun shone through and the whole tree looked as if it were alight.  It was beautiful and we thanked God for it together.  Not only did God create that beautiful tree, but he lined up its short period where the leaves had turned red but not yet fallen (now, mere weeks later, they've all fallen off!) with the time when we all needed a reminder to stop and pause, and a lift to our hearts.

A day when I have simply enjoyed God - through noticing all the thing he have given us and reflecting on what they tell me about him - is a day when my heart is reorientated.  I am reminded of his love, his providence, and his care.  That reorientation of our hearts from the bitterness that things the world owes us something, to the joy at receiving gifts 'just because', is spiritual growth.

2) A day when simply doing the days' work has brought you into closer relationship with God

At my Grandpa's funeral we put together a small poem from short memories he'd written for one of the younger grandchildren to read.  I still remember the final line: singing together as we all wash up.  Washing up may be a laborious and repetitive task, but I'm sure that many people can point to such memories where laborious tasks have been a context for the building of relationships.  It wasn't about the washing up, but a time to come together.  The time was productive - not because the dishes got washed, but because relationships were built and memories were formed.

The writer of Ecclesiastes warns against a constant striving for an elusive progress but concludes: A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God (Ecclesiastes 2:24).  Like the writer of Ecclesiastes, I find myself needing to remember that satisfaction in work can be found in God, not worldly progress.  When I tidy my house, or do the school run, or do some ever-repeating administrative task, I can do so in a way that participates in God's work.  The bringing of habitable order to chaos is the theme of Genesis 1, and when even when I tidy my house I have living out the creation mandate to continue that work.  The satisfaction I feel in the task well done can be turned into a reaffirmation of my identity as being made in the image of God and lead me to worship.  Like memories and relationships built over the washing up, our daily tasks can be a place to meet God.

3) A day when God has taught you something new to use in the future

This is one we might not realise at the time.  How many times have you sat looking at your Bible waiting for some inspiration to strike, or completely your daily reading but felt no change in your heart?  When I look back at my decades of engaging with scripture - through listening to sermons, my own personal study, and all those other times I come into contact with God's word, I've realised that so very often I have learnt something with my head, only for weeks, months or even years to go by when I've suddenly realised why I need to know it!  And oftentimes, the times when we really need to draw on the truth of Scripture are not times when we feel capable of starting a whole systematic study of a topic from scratch!  God prepares us for those times.

And so, a daily reading of scripture might feel like spiritual 'activity' rather than 'productivity' - a repeated task that doesn't get you anywhere meaningful.  But in doing so, we can trust that God is giving us what we need, and helping us to store up nuggets of truth for when we need them most.

4) A day when you have waited on God.

My daughter was once given the book Oh the places you'll go! by Dr Seuss.  It's meant to be an inspiring read.  But there was one section that particularly annoyed me, and that's when it started talking about the 'Waiting Place'.

...a most useless place.  The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting...No! That’s not for you! [2]

And that was the last time I read that book to my daughter.

Waiting can feel like the very opposite of productivity.  But the Christian life is full of waiting.  Waiting for answer to prayer, waiting for bodies to heal, waiting for God, waiting on God.  Usually God doesn't act immediately.  Abraham and Sarah waited decades for God to fulfil his promise of a son, and countless times the psalms the writers cry out: "How long, Lord?"  But God's timings are perfect timings.  Because in the end, the trust in our Heavenly Father is just as important, if not more important, as the thing we're waiting for.  When we wait, we learn that: God's timing is perfect, it's God's plan not ours, and to enjoy God himself while we wait.  We will never learn to trust the truth that God is good, simply as matter of fact, if we never have to wait.

5) A day when you have rested or slept.

My first big change in my life in obedience to God was to keep the Sabbath.  Although I need to re-think how that works now with a busy family life and ministry, at age 17 it was pretty simple.  But it was a massive step of faith.  I was studying for my A-levels and others said to me: "you'll never get the grades you want in four A levels if you never work on a Sunday".  Happy to say I proved that prediction wrong.  But what I quickly realised was that rest was an exercise of trust.  Rest says: "I'm not so important that I need to be working all the time.  The world can get on without me."  It says: "God will provide what I need in this time".  It's the same trust that the Israelites needed to show when God told them that Manna would not fall on the Sabbath, and that what they had collected on the 6th day would keep.  

Think about it: what God would design human beings to spend a whole third of their time asleep?  In moments of worshipping productivity I have been tempted to think of it as a bit of a design flaw.  Why not make us so that we didn't have to waste all this time?  Yes, science tells us that important stuff happens to our bodies when we sleep (brain reorganises stuff, our bodies are restored), but God is the creator - he could have designed those processes to work in a different way without us needing to be unconscious.  But God designed us this way purposely.  He designed us not to believe and act like the whole earth depended on our activity.  Every time we go to sleep we entrust our lives, and those of the people around us, to God's care.  We say: in peace I lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety (Psalm 4:6).

6) A day when you've trusted God and therefore stepped out in faith and obedience

The example of sleep and rest described above can be an example of this one, but clearly there are other examples.  Stepping out in faith and obedience - doing what feels uncomfortable, scary, or just anything that causes us to relinquish our control on our lives (going to sleep is quite comfortable - but it's still an act of faith) can be many things.  It might mean taking the plunge away from trivialities in a conversation and sharing the good news, it might mean an act of sacrificial giving, it might mean keeping the sabbath (as above), it might mean standing up for the truth in face of opposition, hatred or ridicule, it might be exploring a calling that leads to less financial and material security.  The possibility is that God will use those actual actions for his kingdom - to bring others to him, but that's not the point here.  It is the very act of trusting that signifies and perpetuates that fruit which is a spirit that cries 'Abba, Father'.  

Children obey parents if they trust that the parents have their best interests at heart and have the ability to protect those interests.  (Notice the if - like all of us, children often do not obey their parents because they either don't believe the parent knows best, or want to pretend that the parent doesn't know best because it means admitting that they aren't their own best guide). Whether we as adults to chose to obey other figures of authority and protection - from emergency services personnel to flight attendants, depends on the same things.

A spirit that trusts that God's will is best is one that follows the footsteps of Jesus, saying "not my will but yours".  

7) A day when you embrace the freedom the gospel brings

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Sometimes it takes effort to stop or to stand still, but this is what Paul exhorts the Galatians to do - to stop trying to add to the work of Jesus on the cross, by setting a load of rules that are supposed to make them more holy. There are innumerable freedoms the gospel brings: the freedom to live life without fear, knowing that the creator of the universe has our backs; the freedom to live without guilt that swallows us up but to lay it at the cross; the freedom from needing seek security in things that will never quite be good enough and yet demand more and more of us and make us more and more anxious because we never quite measure up. And yet we live with these idols every day. Every time we decide to trust in God and embrace that freedom, we are living more as children of God.

8) A day when you have drawn in to the Body of Christ

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.  Ephesians 2:19-22

When I started at university the first time I was fairly independent.  Unlike most people in my halls of residence, the idea of shopping and cooking didn't really phase me.  But I noticed something: all the people for whom shopping and cooking seemed like a daunting task - they all held each others' hands and did it together.  And as a result, friendships were born.

Being drawn into the Body of Christ includes the acts of service we may do for others, but it is so much wider than that.  It means praying together, hurting for those who are hurting, allowing others to help us, sharing encouragement.  It's not even about the practical side, but about knowing who we are in our spiritual family, and coming to love its members as our spiritual family.

We should consider how this affects the way we might view 'productivity' in our churches.  In any world of employment, however long-term the investment or people-centred the company values, if a person, process or activity adds no value to reaching the project or corporate objectives then there is no place for them.  But the purpose of meeting together as church is to be church.  So we need to reframe the question when looking at our church activities.  An activity is productive when it builds up the body - however inefficient it is at delivering other objectives!

9) A day when you realise you are totally in need of a saviour

I left the most surprising one till last, because here's the thing: some of my most spiritually productive days are when things go wrong.  The days when I shout at my children and husband; or the Sunday mornings filled with stress when I arrive at church feeling like a fraud.  And then I realise how much I am in need of forgiveness.

The tendency to sin is always there, my need for Saviour is always there, but when life's easy and I'm not pushed around by the world it's possible to get through a day feeling like I'm 'quite a nice person really'.  And when that happens, I forget why Jesus died for me, and my worship is empty.  When I think I have no need of God, then I start to think that I am God, and once that's happened, there's no place in my heart for the actual God!  But Jesus said that the one who's many sins have been forgiven, loves much (Luke 7:47), and when two men stood to pray, it was the one who realised his need for redemption that had the most spiritually productive day! (Luke 18:9-14).

Those days of pain and tears are when I have come to God anew, and wallowed in his love for me.  They may have even been my most spiritually productive days.

~~

You know the greatest thing of all?  Our spiritual growth is God's work.  The above list is not a list of things to do, but merely a list of opportunities to respond to.  God is in the business of spiritual productivity, because he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).  Alleluia!

God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying "Abba, Father!"  (Galatians 4:6)

* I use the biblical image of sonship to reflect the full image of Roman adoption being alluded to in the original texts.  Whilst the image in Paul's mind when he wrote was only open to men, God's version is obviously open to all of us!  The parallel use of Abba, however, also brings in an element of the Parent-Child relationship we are more likely to imagine when we think about adoption in our own context.

[1] The Westminster Shorter Catechism: https://thewestminsterstandard.org/westminster-shorter-catechism/

[2] Oh the Places You'll Go, by Dr Seuss, reproduced online at https://www.poetrygrrrl.com/oh-the-places-youll-go-by-dr-seuss/