‘Time is what we want most, but what we use worst’ (William Penn)
Time. It’s something we all have in equal share. Every one of us begins
each day with 24 hours before the next and yet, how is it that some people seem
to achieve so much more in this time frame? I doubt very much that I am the
only person who views time as being elusive; an intangible enemy which moves
life along far too quickly, leaving you to reminisce on the original plan for a
day or week with a heavy sigh, knowing full well that the reality never quite matched
up.
I am a great list-maker and regularly make to-do lists as long as my arm, objectives to achieve in a given time-frame. Inevitably it is rare that all of these targets are achieved. This then, of course, leaves me with the feeling of guilt that in some way I haven’t achieved the productivity I expected of myself. Productivity… It’s an interesting word isn’t it? The OED definition for this word varies from ‘generating’, ‘creating’ or ‘bringing about’. It denotes activity and busyness: fruitfulness in your endeavours.
I am a great list-maker and regularly make to-do lists as long as my arm, objectives to achieve in a given time-frame. Inevitably it is rare that all of these targets are achieved. This then, of course, leaves me with the feeling of guilt that in some way I haven’t achieved the productivity I expected of myself. Productivity… It’s an interesting word isn’t it? The OED definition for this word varies from ‘generating’, ‘creating’ or ‘bringing about’. It denotes activity and busyness: fruitfulness in your endeavours.
Mere hours after I broke up from school for the Easter holidays
on Friday, I had drafted a ‘productive’ to-do list for myself. A strict brief
involving mundane tasks from washing to ironing to hoovering to gardening as if
I wouldn’t be making the most of my time off unless I used it ‘productively’ in
this way. In 21st Century Western culture, we seem to require
productivity in order to deem ourselves and our lives useful or meaningful. For
many, a productive day at work is the amount of money that is generated or the
number of meetings attended. In my case, it would be the depth of learning that
took place in my classroom in a given day; the progression of children in my
class; the amount of marking or planning that I managed to cram in to the day.
On reflection, I
wonder what Jesus’s concept of a ‘productive’ use of time might be. As a man on
planet Earth, He had the same amount of time in each day as we do and yet his
emphasis was never on what he managed to achieve in a monetary, personal or
professional level. His productivity was always outward looking, centred around
other people. He viewed the short
space of time he was given on Earth as being for service towards others. How
many times did he give up his time for others? Stop on his journeys to help the
needy and the lost? To heal the blind or diseased? He was never too ‘busy’ to
help people and yet how many times have you failed to help someone out because
of the busyness of your own agenda?
All too often, we use the sheer amount we attempt to pack
into our own lives as an excuse not to help or listen to others. We consider
our own busyness to be of paramount importance because we measure the meaning
of our own lives on this type of productivity.
Take Jesus as the example of productivity that you aspire to
model; not the 21st Century Westernised version. When you open your
eyes to the potential of a day in terms of your influence on others’ lives rather
than your own, your life will become so much richer and impactful.
We all begin each and every day with the same amount of
time, how will you use yours?
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