Why do I hate doing nothing? I’m not sure. Maybe I have an inflated view of my time. Maybe I forget that, while time is precious, eternity is forever. Maybe I’m just a stressed-out maxed-out person who is unable to relax.
In any event, I have never – in my entire life - planned to do nothing. So, when I was laid up at a spa in Utah, doing nothing caught me completely off guard.
In short, I don’t know how to do nothing!
Could it be that God was trying to teach me something about doing nothing? After all, isn’t God the one who tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) (emphasis mine)
Being still is not my nature. Plan A was supposed to involve lots of activity – hiking, biking, running, and even writing. From my perspective, my toothache was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
But Plan B forced me to be still. Plan B forced me to do nothing. Maybe (just maybe) I was at the right place at the right time.
I learned a few things from doing nothing. Doing nothing forces you to rest. It forces you to slow down. And it forces you appreciate the fact that most days, you don’t have to do nothing – you can do something.
Have you ever learned anything from doing nothing?
2 comments:
I've learned to love doing nothing. I, too, have always been a fast-paced, always busy kind of person. But before kids it was usually by choice. Now I don't have a choice.
I find myself yearning to be alone and quiet; time to hear myself think. My head gets rattled in the chaos of running to and from, picking up and dropping off, answering 3 year-old questions all day and searching for yet another snack for my voracious boys.
I find that my soul settles and my perspective sharpens when I'm "doing nothing". I hope that's what I get for Mother's Day!
I hope you get a "nothing" Mother's Day! What a dream.
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