When I’ve had
a really unproductive day—and I mean one of those where nothing I do seems to
move my day forward—the one thing that always helps is to the pick up the
house. It restores a sense of order and balance and brings me a sense of
accomplishment. A little victory, yes, but it opens the door to better things.
It’s also a
gift that keeps on giving, if you know what I mean. There’s always something to
straighten around here: the mail that’s been accumulating on the kitchen
counter, the scattered notes I took during my work-from-home time at the
kitchen island, the dishes in the sink, the shoes in the family room, the
laundry strewn throughout our bedrooms, or the toys in every place imaginable
(even the bathroom)! The need to pick up the house is like the laundry in that
way. It is always there for me to do.
For the
record, I maintain that laundry is the worst household chore at the top of a
very a long list of housekeeping tasks. Why? Because let’s face it—unless you
are doing the laundry naked, you are never, ever done. Maybe someday, Clara, you’ll
feel different about laundry. Maybe the act of washing, drying, folding and
putting away the same clothes week after week will bring you calm and do for
you what picking up the house does for me. With every toy shelved and every
counter wiped clean, I feel a little boost like an energy drink that gives me
the liquid motivation to accomplish more. In today’s case, it brought me to
this laptop to bang out this blog post. Anything that sparks some creativity
and gets me writing is a very positive development at a time when writing has
become extremely hard.
The other buoy
in a storm of an unproductive day is prayer. It’s not that prayer gets me moving to
accomplish more, but it settles my heart to accept what the day has been,
offers up the struggle, and brings a different kind of peace. Making myself
converse with God is harder than picking up the house—allow me to be honest
here. Sometimes I just don’t feel worthy enough to engage God in conversation
about my petty things. Oftentimes, I’m just too tired to give him the time of
day. That’s a terrible thing, but it’s a very real struggle. The good news is
that God’s mercy overflows and he keeps gently prodding me to spend time with
him. I find that when I do it—when I really take the time out to “waste time
with God,” as Father John Ricardo says, then an unproductive day has become as
productive as possible. Clara, there is no better use of your time. I hope that
I can manage to model a good prayer life for you.
I’ve always
believed that the best thing that your Dad and I can do for you as parents is
impart to you our faith so that you have God as your foundation for life. That
may sound trite and old fashioned but I’m fine with that. God never intended to
be fashionable or with “the times.” Whenever I am distressed by our current
culture, I remember that this is our temporary home. Try to remember that,
Clara, when your day isn’t going as planned or you feel you aren’t making
progress. Give it up to God and then go pick up the house.
