Busyness
Life in 2017 is busier than ever, it appears. The marketing image of the laptop and the smartphone when first they were launched included visions of freedom from desk or office and featured people connecting in locations like beaches or parks. Reality is more often the hurried connection in an airport, station or coffee shop, sometimes even rather inconvenient locations like in the car or at home on the sofa or kitchen table.
In spite of the always-on nature of our connectivity by phone, tablet or laptop, I am not surprised to see that the productivity per capita in the UK has stagnated over the past 10-12 years having grown consistently over the previous 3 decades. We are sometimes "busy doing nothing", with the distractions of meetings, reports, data collection, social media and umpteen other factors. Of course there are many factors in the fields of politics and economics that could account for this stagnation – but it seems to me that the increase in working hours for no extra productivity is an interesting and challenging phenomena.
Perhaps somewhere along the line we have lost the "Sabbath rest" habit. Perhaps the pressure to achieve more constantly with less has hit a road block. We are told that millions of jobs will be lost to automation and artificial intelligence (not just in production, but in legal, medical and artistic sectors). Change in the workplace will result in great challenges in years to come.
Can you take time to experience peace? We need to swim against the tide sometimes:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12: 2 [NIV]
What is God's will for your life? Take time out to listen to God this week.
Dave MacLellan
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