When I read the Bible in the morning, I try my best to keep it a practice that grounds me into the present moment. I try to be with the God who is with me presently in the Words of the page. And yet, too often, my Bible reading time becomes treated like progress. Like by reading I am checking off the first thing on my list, a successful start to a successful day. I realize that so much of my life is progress and success, a striving after a future I envision for myself and my family.

My breakfast of eggs and oats fuels my body so that I can think clearly and so that my workout is most effective. My swim or run is preparing me for future races, and how the workout goes either gets me closer to my goal or leaves me needing to push harder. Even my sleep is not treated as something to enjoy, but there is a small anxiety that I am not sleeping enough to properly recover that I might have another productive tomorrow. While my work is full of things I love, still it is progress. I want to see the work of my hands prosper, for the church to grow, for my writing to reach more people.

I do not believe this constant pursuit of better is healthy. Yes, we all should aim to make our bodies healthy by sleeping well, eating right, and moving our bodies. But the pressure to be faster or stronger has taken some of the love of just being there, out in the world and running for fun. The pressure to grow my subscriber count in my writing takes a bit of the joy of being here with you all, writing simply because I love to write.

Progress is good, producing fruit is good. But I have not spent nearly enough time resting in the last couple of months. And my soul feels a bit tired.

In response, I was encouraged to pick up drawing. Drawing slows you down. It gets you into a present moment, into the scene you are trying to draw. It forces you to notice the little details of life, rather than quickly zooming by for the sake of efficiency and productivity. It consumes your attention and mind, forcing you to pay attention to the scene and then the page. I do not want to become a professional at drawing, so this is a “useless” hobby, a time waster. True, I am still doing something, but that something is not progressing me toward some sort of future version of myself that I am trying to pursue. And yet this is why I have enjoyed drawing; it provides space and rest from the chase.

What do you do to find spaces of rest in your life?

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