The Myth of Productivity

The young girl stands poised at the end of the zipline platform, contemplating. Should she go down? Should she take the leap? With our feet on the stable earth, we shout at the girl in the swaying treetops, telling her to jump, to trust us, to jump. But she is not sure. She is scared. My camera is ready to take the shot. That's my job, to capture the children in their greatest moments. But now, my job is waiting. As I hold the camera, waiting for the little girl to jump, my mind is sprinting through all the things I need to do. Call the parents. Create the DVD. Edit that document. But I wait.

In the end, the girl does not jump. She climbs slowly down the ladder and is unharnessed. She declares that she will try again tomorrow. But we are proud of her. She has made a remarkable step in her personal growth. She is just young and she has climbed so high. She has gotten farther than before. We affirm this.

Was this a waste of time? To wait for this young girl? We want to get people on the zipline quickly before the next activity, we want to make sure that we stay on schedule. We have a lot of activities to pack into one day and spending more time on one affects the whole day. But lately I have noticed that God does not often stick to our schedules. In a book I am reading right now (Multiply), there was a quote I found to be true: "God cares more about your character than your productivity." As a person who graduated with a degree in economics, that is one of the more difficult things to swallow. But even if I don't like to believe it, this is the truth: God is not efficient. 

Is it efficient to leave 99 sheep in order to save one, as the story goes in Matthew 18 and Luke 15? What about when Jesus helped Peter and Andrew catch all of those fish, and then calls them to leave them? Surely that's not efficient. Or when He got interrupted in the middle of healing a crowd of people by a paralytic coming through the roof? No, God does not seem to care about productivity as much as He does about character.

And that is why it is not a waste of time to stop our daily tasks once in a while, to allow ourselves to be interrupted by relationships. In my short time of living I have observed that life is a series of interruptions. Nothing is quite as we have planned it, and these interruptions build character. I pray I may be more aware of what is important. I like being productive. I like finding the most efficient way of doing things. I like making to-do lists and crossing things off of them. But in the end, I do not think God will say "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have gotten the most things done. You have crossed everything off your to-do list in life." No, I  hope He will say something like "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have recognized Me when I have interrupted you."

God cares more about your character than your productivity.

Taking the scenic route. Walton, NS