Lately, I’ve been getting myself in a bit of tiswas…
It’s all to do with time. Or rather the lack of it.
Finding time to write in a very hectic season of life can feel utterly impossible.
Today I almost gave up.
What was meant to be a ‘day off’ swiftly snowballed into a whole heap of chores. I find this happens to me a LOT.
So I said to God – “I can’t do this anymore – this writing thing. I just don’t have the time. Maybe you’ve asked the wrong gal’. Maybe I’ll give it another crack when I retire. But right now, Lord, I just have to let this go. I give up!”
A voice inside me said: “Do you think that life will be any less busy when you retire?”
I sighed. “Lord, will there ever be time?”
I made a cup of tea and sat for a moment and stilled and quieted my soul before God. I sang. I prayed. I surrendered.
I looked out of the patio doors – out into the garden. I could see one of the beds needed weeding and dead-heading. Uugh… Another job I never seem to have the time for.
I glanced at the clock. 2:50pm. I had ten minutes before I needed to leave for the school run…Just ten minutes.
Then I had a crazy idea!
‘Why don’t you set a timer on your phone and see how much gardening you can do in ten minutes…?”
Okay. Sounds a bit bonkers. But I’ll give it a go!
I threw on my coat, grabbed a garden fork and got to work.
And this was the result! Who would have thought that just ten minutes worth of gardening would produce a whole pot-full of weeds, old dead stems and garden waste?
As I tugged out those tufts of Chickweed, and snapped off the dead-wood, I remembered the advice my nine year old had recently given me: “Mum, just try to write 50 words per day. And keep going. That’s all you need to do.”
What a wise little owl! Was God trying to show me something here?
It’s true – I might not have great chunks of time to spare during this season of life. I might NEVER have great chunks of time.
But I could find 10 minutes. Surely?
Just 10 minutes a day.
What a revolutionary thought! You know, 10 minutes a day might just be doable.
And progress, however small, is still progress. In fact, maybe the whole point of progress is consistency – not speed.
I applied the ten minute test to my writing this afternoon. I grabbed my notebook and pen. I set my timer, and guess what? I didn’t just write 50 words. I wrote 140! Perhaps I can do the same tomorrow. And the day after that. And little by little, who knows – perhaps 2022 really will be the year I finish that book?
And I might have a garden to be proud of too.
Angela Jelf 