Always Good

Productivity isn’t necessarily measured in the ticks beside jobs on a to-do list.

It’s possible to be productive while sitting still on the couch. Mentally productive. Spiritually productive. 

The protestant work ethic is deeply engrained in me, and I know that buzzing round the house or garden, accomplishing definite tasks, somehow seems better than sitting still exercising my mind or my spirit. And yet I know it isn’t.

I know that when I sit and meditate on Scripture, or sit silently in prayer or companionably in prayer with a partner, I am refreshed. But more than the refreshment I feel deep in my soul, I know that I am productive.

It is impossible to pray a prayer and have nothing happen. 

Something happens in response to our prayers. God is listening, even when it seems we go on praying the same prayer for years. Things are happening. Unseen things perhaps. Imperceptibly perhaps. Maybe they are happening in the way we are asking. Or maybe he is working in our own hearts to widen our vision and deepen our perception.

The important thing to remember is that God is love, and he can’t be anything other than love. His love took Jesus all the way to the cross. He is always listening when we speak; he even hears our prayers before a word is on our lips. 

I want to be productive today, and not particularly in the way of ticking off jobs on a to-do list.