Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been on more road trips than I care to ever do again. We drove about 20 hours a couple weeks ago to get to Albuquerque, NM to visit friends and see the balloon fiesta. We’re now in Kerrville, TX (5 hours away) to visit my parents. And the problem with those massive stretches of land is that I can’t get any work done (well, not legally). I doubt the state troopers would understand if I was blogging from the driver’s seat.
But there’s actually been a benefit to these exhausting stretches of road. They’ve given me undistracted hours of thinking. As the lines of the road race toward me and blur together, my mind wanders. I explore new ideas. I re-evaluate things I’m doing. I have nothing else to do but consider my life and my job.
And while I don’t see immediate results from these pensive hours, I notice I’m quicker to make decisions when I actually sit down to work.
Just yesterday I had a revolutionary idea and was able to nail down concise details and verbalize it to the people I needed to help me with it. It was a brand new concept to me—something I’ve never tried. And it flowed so naturally from my brain to my hands.
I truly believe it’s because I had so many hours to unwind the knots in my own brain and process my thoughts.
So often we are at the beckon call of New Email bings, Candy Crush Saga levels to defeat, and to-do items to check off. We don’t have any time to think because we’re too busy doing.
But what if we allowed our brains to wander? What if we allowed ourselves to process life? I truly believe this waste of time driving has led to a revolution in how I do my job.
Mary and Martha…Sometimes you have to stop being Martha, always doing and serving, and just sit a Jesus’ feet, quietly contemplating his ways.