The glory of God is man fully alive. – Saint Irenaeus.
There’s usually such a contrast, for me, between work time and holiday time and it doesn’t seem right that this should be the case.
Why do people experience ‘Monday Morning’ blues and ‘Back to School’ dread? I asked a few people. ‘Not enjoying work/school’ and ‘lack of freedom’ seem to be the common responses. Why do we, so often, find ourselves stuck in a job or routine that we do not enjoy? As for freedom, it’s the very thing Christ died for, why would we give it away when the holiday comes to an end?
The holiday period lends itself to sleep, creative endeavours, nourishing books, fun with family and friends, excursions, clearer thoughts, tastier meals, long walks with the dog and actually doing all the things I think are important to do. During term time it’s all too easy to make commitments that take up time I didn’t ever want to give away. I begin to go through the motions, a little duller, a lot slower; swept away and longing for a moment to catch my breath and remember what counts most.
It feels easier to love God and people during the holidays. Being rather than doing comes more naturally, too.
We can easily fall into a cycle of extreme pace, fatigue and burnout followed by very necessary leisure times. If we could, somehow, merge the two – find a work that comes from a place of rest – we might find that when holiday time comes around again we are not recovering so much as discovering. Instead of trying to get back on track we find ourselves already in our lane, merrily making good progress. Productivity, multi-tasking, efficiency, whatever you call it, comes with a price tag. Our improved pace might not win first prize “whatever the cost” but we will cross the line.
Is it possible, or even right, to wish that every day could be a holiday?
Can I scoop out some of this gentle spring sunshine and stir it into every cloudy day to come? Can I cut a branch off the Tabebuia tree (which blooms terrifically for only two weeks in every fifty-two) and wave it all year long? Should I bottle up some of this lazy day and use it to rescue one that is getting wilder by the minute?
The word ‘holiday’, apparently, originates from two words: holy and day. Now I know why I have wanted to take ‘holiday’ with me into ‘work day’. More than recreation and rest, it’s about observing and setting ourselves apart. It might have begun as a religious day and yet the call for hard work to cease a while so that we can celebrate and remember touches a spiritual nerve. We were made for more than running on treadmills and behaving like robots and machines.
1 Thessalonians 4 v 11 always feels, to me, like a soothing balm applied to the strange wound of industrialisation. Making it our ambition to lead quiet lives, minding our own business and working with our hands sounds attractive, yet in opposition to the loud, invasive speediness this modern age operates with.
We have entered in to the depths of term time humdrum but I am swimming a gentle breast stroke this time, rather than the ‘thrashing freestyle without any breaths’ one. Sometimes I tumble turn in the middle of no where and every so often I join the synchronise swimmers. Instead of putting people on hold, I am trying to put my hand out towards the competing tasks in a ‘stop-wait-a-moment’ motion. Rather than productivity, I am searching for what is meaningful and lasting.
When we live free, not bound by obligation and duty, surprising opportunities arise. When we work hard doing what we love and are good at, the dread and despondency of the daily grind are replaced with anticipation and fulfilment. The day gets holier. Monday mornings are welcome. The lines between work and play blur and I begin to believe there really is something called a Sweet Spot.
John 8 v 36: For if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Ephesians 2 v 10: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Mark 12 v 30 – 31: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
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