Grace is not limited to Christendom. Ultimately, Christian theology gives us the definition that grace is the free gift of salvation. This definition of grace is far too limiting for humanity. Grace, simply, is a free gift. It need not matter what it is. We tend to think of a gift as something materialistic. It need not be so. A gift is something that we receive without cost. Everything costs something; the only concern for most people for most things is who's paying. When I think of the most costly thing I have, I don't think of my faith, my belief, my family or any plethora of things that people might think would be more important. My time is the most valuable graced gift I have.
I am known for scheduling my life like a fiend. People tend to think that all I do is work. Now in my early forties, like most others my age, I have a need and a desire for high productivity in my life. People tend to think that I am a workaholic based on the amount of ink in my Bullet Journal. I have told people before, and I am often asked about whether or not I ever have any downtime. My answer seems to always be the same, "Yes. I schedule it in."
For some reason, scheduling downtime, self-care time, or whatever it gets labeled seems to be absurd. Even more so, I schedule spontaneity time. I literally have a need to schedule unscheduled time such that I know that there will be a point in time that I am not working, answering questions, emailing, writing, contending with the public, being concerned about faith or someone else's faith, or doing anything else for someone else. If I don't schedule it and draw a boundary line, I won't get any time for myself. There will always be more work to do, but there won't always be another opportunity to meet up with my newer acquaintances and friends for a game of Werewolf or go to a festival. Somehow, when I said festival, I was told that it wasn't downtime. It was a beautiful moment.
My father, like many, had a way with words from time to time. Explaining pearls of wisdom from my father is often fraught with rephrasing colorful words, jaded sarcasm, and his personal view on life. Other people's parents wanted them to be doctors, attorneys, psychologists, and teachers, regardless of teaching income as it is somehow noble to serve selflessly in poverty. My father didn't have a chosen profession for his children. His pearl of wisdom on vocation and careers was "If you aren't having fun, then it isn't worth doing." Finally, I got to explain that my schedule is filled with fun. For some reason, this was filled with a statement that I was spending my time storing things up for my retirement when I was older. That is when I realized, they have significantly underestimated my income versus the cost of living where I live. Somehow, I make a lot of money; I was a workaholic with a lot of money. This is nowhere close to true. I am doing what I like to do, I'm having fun with my profession as my father wanted, and I am creating poetry, prose, and new drawings as I am able to do so. If anything, I spend my downtime creating which is more fulfilling to me than even my own scheduled and spontaneous Netflix and Chill time.
I realized that I, have and have had for most of my life, considered work to be fun. I have a work ethic that keeps my art being made. It keeps me writing. Without it, I wouldn't be having fun. At some point, I have to take a break from having fun one way to having fun another way. I enjoy my life, even with the stresses that it has. It could be a lot less stressful, but those around me consider me to be wealthy - -somehow. I am in a way -- I schedule fun. I honor and live my father's advice that life is to be fun. What you spend your time, energy, and emotions doing is to be fun. It should, as is more contemporarily said, spark joy.
This spontaneous joy is that they think I am working. I was blessed to have this discussion with my students. I am graced with time to live. I don't know how much time, but like everyone else I have it. I was blessed to learn that they experience my joy, my honoring of my father's prompting for vocational fun, and the choice that I am spending my time with them. I was blessed to share that my work is fun. That writing to me and being creative is fun. They have told me that I am different from several other of their teachers because I know their names. Their humanity is important to me because humanity is fun. Being human and not my own God, or God forbid my own savior, is fun. I don't keep the universe spinning or gravity working.
Thank God! I'm a writer. I teach and write. I wouldn't want to be may other things. I might try them out, but I love writing. I love learning more about words and helping others to understand that creating and living in the imago dei is one of the truest ways to embrace a Creator-God and the fun He has devised for us. Because I am a writer, I get to also be a musician, an artist, a historian, a wordsmith, a narrator, a healer, a lover, and so on. When I wake up with my heart geared at writing and creating something new, I feel joy. My heart is already at work -- at fun. Fun is spontaneous. Time to have it is necessary.
Simply stated: we have all been graced with time to have fun with what our hearts are set upon. Live joyfully.
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