Dear Faith Family,
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing."
(Annie Dillard)
We have all felt the weight and truth of Dillard's observation, haven't we? Whether amid the grind of the mundane, overwhelmed by expectations, or in those too-quiet moments, we've all been hit with the question: "What am I doing with my life?" And, as much as we look to adapted visions of the past or aspirations for the future to validate our living, we know deep down that real life is actualized neither in the past nor future, but in these days, in this hour.
There is a reason our faith heritage encourages us to examine our lives in compressed frames of a week or a day, rather than via drawn-out and yet-to-be eras. If a life cannot be measured until it has reached its end, then our life is not the sum of our past, for we are continuing to add to the sum these days and this hour. Likewise, our life is not a future aspiration, but rather what we are doing with our potential these days and at this hour.
Which, makes Dillard's words an exhortation to exercise agency in the work of living.
Agency, whether individually or collectively, is the power people have to think for themselves and act in ways that shape their experiences and trajectories. As we've said, agency in the work of living is something humans are given "In the beginning," and so, "enhanced" in our new beginnings in life with Jesus. So, where does Dillard encourage us to exercise our agency in the work of living? Her answer will dazzle even as it makes us say "duh!"
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order...a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living." (Annie Dillard)
If how we spend our days is how we spend our life, then we should use the agency we've been given to shape these days and this hour. And how do we frame our hours? With a schedule, of course!
While the exhortation is simple, what Dillard is encouraging, as we discussed on Sunday, is not merely to use a planner, but rather, to live by a "Rule of Work."
"Rule" comes from the Latin word regula, which is associated with a trellis, the woodwork or scaffolding on which a plant matures to maximize both fruitfulness and beauty. A "rule" is a set of habits we commit to that form our schedules. Habits like those espoused by Cal Newport in his book on working with agency for fullness of life:
Do fewer things.
Work at a natural pace.
Obsess over quality.
Habits, when entwined with The Basic Rule, give us a "Rule of Working From The Soul," a way of working that we can love. Imagine that, that there were a way to do the work of living that was made up of hours that sustain rather than stress, of days that deliver rather than destroy, of time that delights rather than degrades!
Of course, a "rule" won't take away all the difficulties of living, but it can provide a way to stay afloat rather than be drowned by them. If any of this resonates with you--doing work in a way you can love with your soul and exercising your agency in the work of living--let me invite you to do three things over the summer:
Listen to Sunday's sermon.
Read Newport's "Slow Productivity"
In Community (with your GC or with other friends of faith), put together your scaffolding, write a "Rule of Life" in which faith and work are intertwined.
If you have questions or need help anywhere along the way, don't hesitate to extend me an invitation to join you!
Through our efforts of faith, may we find in the mundane, amid the mass of expectations, and in the moments of quiet that indeed we are spending our lives,
"... work[ing] heartily (from the soul), as for the Lord and not for humanity, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance." (Colossians 3:23-24a)
Love you, faith family! God bless.