Experiments in Inefficiency: An Introduction

Photo Credit: Monoar_CGI_Artist on Pixabay

I’d felt the chest pains before–in the crush before the school day, in the tornado of dinner prep with a crying baby–but it was only this past December that I started to really listen to what my body was saying, or rather to what God was saying through my body. I began noticing how I strove to complete everything I did in the quickest way possible, to complete the most tasks possible. And I began realizing that I was not only harming myself and my relationships–I was setting an example to my son, teaching the next generation to rush through life, rather than live it.

So, as some of you know, I decided to take a couple of months to rest from writing, to sit in uncomfortable silence, to listen to God. I started asking questions: why do I feel the need to rush (in everything, all the time)? Why do I feel the need for hyperproductivity? Why do I resist rest? What is the tension between caring for yourself and caring for your family (and is there even a difference between the two)? What does it mean to walk in the good works God has for us, to take on the yoke of Jesus, rather than strangle ourselves with our own to-do lists? How to know what the Lord is saying to do, or not do? What could the inefficient labors of bread-making or garden-tending illuminate?

In this new series, I’ll be sharing notes from my journey of moving from a life obsessed with efficiency to a life of intentional inefficiency. Not for inefficiency’s sake, and certainly not to be selfish or lazy. (Indeed, it is good to be wise with the scant hours of earthlife we have.) But to resist unbiblical cultural and personal pressures to produce in favor of Jesus’ easy yoke. To live life more carefully, more attentively, more lovingly. This series will blend cerebral meditations with concrete attempts to live out a Spirit-led pace in my daily life.

I hope you will join me on this journey as I continue my experiments in inefficiency.