What do you know about these words? Productivity is all over the place. In our society, we see it in technological advancement, medical discoveries, and even on Facebook where the many folks just wanting to make a living from home are expanding at-home businesses through different marketing venues. We are taught that productivity rules. That we should go, go, go until the wheels fall off. That we should jampack every nook and cranny of our day so that we can continuously move forward. But is moving forward really always the best option? What if there are nuggets of wisdom in standing still? What if we could practice the pause?
That brings me to perseverance. Perseverance sometimes requires silence. Perseverance absolutely requires rest. It requires a sense of knowing when to go, and it also requires knowing when to stop and reflect for a moment on next moves. Perseverance demands that we don’t burnout on productivity, but pace ourselves allowing for self-care and stillness to process.
Homeschooling my children has been one of the upmost incredible journeys. I love it, and I know for an absolute that it is exactly what God has called for our family in this season. However, I think it is important to acknowledge the hard work that anything new requires. Especially if you’re like me and enjoy being productive. Homeschooling requires a level of focus that really just steals focus from all other productive areas in my life. Focus that is on my children’s education. Now, I’m not saying that many other parents who don’t homeschool do not care about their children’s education. But what I am saying is that as a homeschool parent my job is to formulate, mull over, understand, and teach back their entire education. What an honor, right? Of course! But, I have so many things I could and want to be doing. I’m going to be real honest here and say that these things are not sitting at the table learning Latin declensions or wrestling with a math problem with tiny people. If you don’t enter homeschool (or anything, really) for the right reasons, with the right heart, I could 100% see how you could burnout.
Some of these productive things I wish I could be doing God has purposefully planted within me. If I’m not careful, I can use his planting as an excuse to abandon his calling. He has called me in the season to homeschool our children. He has also planted seeds in my heart and allowed me to see promises that could be coming forth in the future. But if I’m too focused on my productivity to get to another place, I may not be focused enough on my perseverance to get through this place. In fact, there are ways in which my perseverance in this season could water and cultivate the garden that God has planted for my future.
Lysa Terkeurst puts it this way, “God isnt after our earthly accomplishments. And he doesn’t want us going through the motions of devotion.”
Heres a secret about me: I have a habit of focusing on my accomplishments and completely forgetting that this is a marathon, not a sprint. This is generational, not just about me. This is about eternity, not just what happens in the next few years of my life.
So I’m going to rest in Hebrews 13 today, and if any of this resonates with you, I hope you will to. It says, in verse 13, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers on the earth.” I’m going to remember when my adventurous 1 year old is crying or my zestful 13 year old is rolling his eyes or my curious 5 year old is being wild and my logical 8 year old is being argumentative, that sometimes what we work toward is bigger than just us and our lives. Productivity does not last. Generations do.