I often find myself trying to find ways to get away with doing less. Nothing quite criminal, just a few corners here and there. After all, why exert the extra energy if no one is going to notice one way or another? Some may say there's nothing wrong with simplifying the daily tasks of life. (Don't we shame the fool who exerts himself for no return and no profit?) Well, Ockham may have been a pretty sharp philosopher, with his simplifying razor, but I find I have a tendency to cut a bit too deep when it comes to responsibilities at home and at work.
We are all fully familiar with boredom that comes from daily tasks and I know for a fact that life does move through seasons which are less exciting than others. The real battle for me is against that little voice in my head that "warns" me against giving too much of myself. It's that type of hoarding, self-focused mentality that makes even basic tasks a threat to my survival.
"Does it really need to be done right now?"
"Does anyone really care that much about punctuality?"
"Will it make a difference whether you check your work throughly or not?"
I remember this was most devastating while I was in school and how getting the best marks for the least effort took great priority over how much I was actually learning. It was even celebrated when someone could skim a book and whip out a report in a matter of hours and still pull off a passing grade without really learning anything. At the base level however, this manner of living is of a mindset that believes in no greater reward for honest discipline and no access to the strength to see our responsibilities carried out well.
As I was journaling last night about this infectious trend in my life, I was reminded of how, in Christ, we are no longer bound to this minimalist fatality. When I look at myself and am tempted to see frailty, emptiness, dryness, and want, Holy Spirit points me back to the cross and the gift of life that comes from the Father.
"but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:38
These words transform lives. These words make empty people overflow.
Blessings,
Jake
