Saturday, November 22, 2014

A Nice Surprise - 400 and 463

“I think that growth and spiritual awareness come in slow increments.
Sometimes you don't know it's happening.”

Mariel Hemingway


Recently I had a nice surprise.  I wrote a blog.  (That’s not the surprise.)  It wasn’t my longest blog.  It may have not even been my best blog.  (Also, not the surprise.)   But I got it done.  (Still not the surprise.)  Ironically, it was called I’m falling asleep… because I was. (http://robertf71.blogspot.com/2014/11/im-falling-asleep.html) But, as I said, I got it done. (Almost there.)   The next day, while looking at my blog page, I realized that this was the 400th blog I’d written this year.  It was the 463rd blog I’d written since that time a year ago.  I have been writing and writing.  And this doesn’t even include the hundreds of pages I’ve written by hand this year.
Am I bragging?  Maybe a little, but that’s not the main purpose here.
Here’s the thing.  I wasn’t counting.  I was just working.  That’s what I do every day.  I work.  Some days I do more than others.  But every day I work.  And I’m adding more work and more goals to my days.  I want to accomplish things so that I have something to contribute to the world, so that I can make a difference.  I want my life to mean something.  It’s not that my life is meaningless now, but it is my job to give it the meaning God intended for it. 
So I work.  It doesn’t often feel like work because I’m doing what I love, but it takes the same amount of discipline as if it were a paying job that I loved…or hated.  I still have to show up.   If I want to be effective I can’t waste time.  And the only things that count in work are that I do my job well and I produce as much as possible.  Quality and quantity.  That’s it and that’s enough.  So though I have been known to say that a particular blog may not be my best blog ever, that doesn’t mean I turn in anything that I’m ashamed of.  I do my best every time and I do it almost every day.
It should be noted – and again, I am not bragging, but trying to set an example and show what is necessary – that I write every day.  I write when I can, which is usually on early mornings, late evenings, and weekends.  I can choose to do other things during my “spare time,” but I don’t see how wasting time will bring any of us closer to our goals, make us happier, or make us more useful in this world.
Currently I’m considering new possibilities, not because I’m giving up on writing, but because I want to see what other options are available.  I’m going to add more to my plate rather than take things off.  This means I need to use my time even more effectively.  But I know this – time is the one thing we all have in common.  We all have 24 hours in each day.  And we all have one day at a time.  So it behooves us to use each day, each moment, as wisely and as well as we can.  We can use each moment we’re given to take care of others or take care of ourselves.  When I waste time, I’m doing neither. So I’m writing one more blog because I believe it’s the best use of my time, the best way of taking care of myself and others, and most of all, the best way of doing what I’m supposed to be doing with my life and my gifts – the life and gift God has given me.

I Get Started and I Keep Going…and…who knows?  Perhaps one day soon, I’ll have another nice surprise.

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