Productivity and Abundant Grace

Dear Friends,

In a conversation the other day, I shared with a friend that this time of social distancing has left me feeling all at once busier and at the same time far less productive than I can ever remember feeling. Some things in life are simpler, of course. It's been over a month since I had an extended conversation with my wife about where we should eat dinner, and my commute time has gone to zero! 

But lots of things are more complicated. And not just for me. Many of us are having to learn how to do our jobs in completely different ways. Even those of us who are working in more or less the same way are having to figure out how to comply with all sorts of safety regulations. Those of us with younger children are also now tasked with being a home school parent. I never realized how many learning apps there are, and I open emails cautiously every day with fear and trembling at being introduced to yet more!

So we have our jobs, which feel so different, our responsibilities at home, which have probably increased during this time. All while dealing with our anxieties about the future, the economy, a global pandemic. Maybe there's a reason so many of us feel incredibly stretched and yet unproductive.

The bad news is, I don't have much of a way to frame how stretched we are feeling right now from a theological perspective. I imagine I'll be reflecting on this time for years to come, trying to discern where and how God is to be found in it. I certainly believe that God can be found in it, but I don't claim any easy answers. To be honest, most of the ones I've heard seem trite and make God feel small. 

But I do want to say a word about productivity in this time. It's a simple word, one that I'm having to remind myself of regularly: Despite what our culture says and despite what society has told you from the time you were very young, your worth is not rooted in how productive you are. Your value is rooted in the abundance of God's grace that gave you life. Your value is shown forth in the glory of Christ's death and resurrection, which redeems you. Your value is made known in the grace of the Spirit's presence, which is always at work sanctifying you, making you whole.

You aren't valuable because you are productive. You are valuable because you belong to God.

I hope you hear this as a word of freedom. Freedom to stop trying so hard and to enjoy the abundant grace in which you live. Abundant grace that no virus takes away. Abundant grace that no economic fear can undo. Abundant grace that no failure at home schooling ends. 

The grace that created you, redeems you, and sustains you this day and always.

God bless,

Fr. Quinn+