A Time for Busyness...

Last night one of my sisters took our three oldest children to her house to stay for two nights. As much as we love our children and they love us, it was a treat for all of us! A break for us and a special holiday for them.
The plan was for my husband to work on his building project and I planned to get lots done at home, while I only had one child to look after. Where should I start? Gardening, lawn mowing, shopping, cleaning, decluttering, baking, making soup or catching up on odd jobs? There are always many things to be done.
But this morning my husband changed his mind. He decided to make a holiday of this day and not go and work (He often works on Saturdays). So I also decided to do the essentials and forget about the rest.
It was a relaxing day--we went shopping together which we hardly ever do and Johan made a special meal for dinner as he loves to cook.
Instead of getting things done, we relaxed and spent the day together. I'm glad of that. It was a day well spent.
Sometimes its easy to think that busyness equals productivity. That time well spent equals lots of jobs crossed off my 'to do' list. But that is not always the case.
There is a time for everything. A time for work and a time to relax.
There are days that we get nothing done. Maybe we have a sick child or we are sick ourselves. Or maybe the jobs we try to do don't go well--like the other day when I mixed up a big batch of bread dough by hand and it turned out so bad I had to throw the whole thing out. A waste of time, energy and ingredients. Some days are filled with frustrations and at the end of the day we have nothing to show for our day.
But there are more important things in life than ticking off 'to do' lists. Things like spending time with God and growing in our spiritual life. Things like spending time with our husband and making time to do things together or sit down and talk. Things like taking the time to read to our children, play with them, teach them how to do something or just to enjoy them. Things like enjoying God's creation and the simple pleasures of life. Things like rest and being refreshed.
I tend to be like Martha--I value busyness too much.
Time with God and cultivating relationships are more important.
Jobs--keeping our house clean and getting things done--are important. But we need to remember they are just a means to an end. They are not the purpose of our life!