Unlocking the Creative

Grace and Peace Friends,

The other day I asked my friend, how their chickens were doing. They had purchased 10 chickens last Spring to produce fresh eggs for their family and they built them the Taj Mahal of chicken coops. “Well”, my friend said, “I have a whole new understanding of the phrase hen picking.” Apparently, when the chickens are bored, they peck one another. My friend had to find productive things for the chickens to do, like putting them out in their play area with a head of cabbage filled with chicken feed. They needed to be occupied with a goal in order to stop them from picking on one another.

But there is a difference between being busy and being productive. Being busy connotes being active and having our time captivated. Being productive is about bringing forth: “to cause, to bear, to create, to bear fruit.” (My summary of the 1828 dictionary http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,produce). 

Busyness is not a synonym for productivity. You can be bored, unproductive and busy at the same time. If chickens do not have something productive to do, they will find a way to keep busy that ultimately is harmful to those around them. Boredom and busyness are the lethal enemy of productivity. 

How many times do we turn on each other out of boredom? Picking at each other instead of finding a cabbage head to conquer?  

This made me think about our culture. Do we have a busy culture or a productive culture? Are we spectators or active participants bearing fruit? This is one of my questions for the format of the American church. It’s the only time of the week that I must occupy my time without the opportunity to be productive. Yes, corporate worship is important and I really do love my church family!

However, all week long I am listening to sermons from Andy Stanley, Tim Keller, Joyce Meyers, and multiple others while I am walking my dog which is a triple productive opportunity as I am nourishing myself spiritually, getting exercise, and give my dog some exercise.  Being out and about also allows me to be a light in my community. I’m always looking for people to serve - whether it’s employees or clients or people within the community – it’s just a great time to pray for the city. But then I go sit with hundreds of others on a Sunday morning and just give my money so others can go and do.  I think there is something wrong with this model. 

Another way I see the effect of this issue of productivity (or the lack there-of) is in our entitlement based assistance programs. The greatest harm is does for people is that it robs them the opportunity to be productive. I believe everyone has something to contribute, no matter how small it may seem. I have built relationally over the past 10 years with a family who has struggled with poverty and people might want to judge their lifestyle. But one of the many lessons that I have learned was when my friend found an opportunity to be productive, her life changed like it had not changed in the many years before that. The day she started her volunteer opportunity, she called me and said “Wendy, I now have a reason to wake up every day!”

It’s something to think about.

Blessings,

Wendy