I’m On Deadline, So I’m Taking a Trip

After my wife cleared her to-do list one day, I picked up a marker and wrote, "Sit with Jesus." She says she might leave it there permanently.

Photo by Srikanth Adya on Unsplash

On our way to small group last week, my wife pointed out a tree that was transforming from life into death. Most of its leaves were still green. But a patch had already changed to yellow, orange, and red. And soon, the leaves will turn brown and fall to the ground.

But not yet.

Right now, we get to enjoy October and all that comes with it – the cooler temperatures, the firepits, the hot cocoa and all the beauty of nature as it prepares to sleep for a few months.

Tomorrow, my wife and I are planning to take a mini-road trip to Honey Creek, Iowa to visit the Hitchcock Nature Center. We’ve never been there, but we’re eager to explore some of the 1,500 acres of trails, prairies, savannas and woodlands.

Last year, we took a trip to Nebraska City a little later in the year, hoping to catch some of the fall beauty at one of the apple orchards there, but we arrived a little too late in the season – most of the leaves had already fallen. Not this year, though! Looks like we’re right on time.

Why do such a thing? I’m on deadline for a writing project. And we still have plenty to do around the apartment, given that we got married in May and are still settling in. But if you don’t take time soul time – time to think and explore and just take in the majesty of God’s creation – you run the risk of feeling disconnected and less grounded.

We are choosing to interrupt productivity for beauty.

My wife keeps her to-do list on our bedroom door as a gentle reminder of things she wants to tackle that day. After she cleared it off one day, I picked up the marker and wrote, “Sit with Jesus.” She tells me she may leave that there permanently.

Sitting with Jesus – just being, rather than doing – is something my small group has been talking about this fall. That’s not an anti-productivity sentiment. I think it just means you can’t have your foot on the gas pedal all the time and expect to feel connected to Christ. Sometimes, you have to pull off the road and just take it all in.

The same could be said for our Bible reading and prayer life. We’re all busy. But when I’m too busy to pull off the road, so to speak, and sit with the creator of the universe, I know I’ve lost the plot.