Can you practice waiting and still be productive at the same time? Yes, yes you can.

We find ourselves knee deep in the Advent season with Christmas quickly approaching. I find it almost impossible to resist or deny the temptation to not fall into the rushed, consumerist, stress ball that our culture has made the month of December. Even if the things you choose to prioritize are more wholesome, like spending time with family, seeing the beauty of Christmas by looking at lights, trying to be intentional with gift giving- it still leads one to feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated. Advent in the Christian tradition is all about waiting…waiting for what is to come. Waiting for change to happen. Waiting for the sake of not being busy. But the month of December in our society is all about productivity- decorating, cooking, cleaning, hosting, buying, making memories and so on.

So that brings us to our question- Can we practice waiting and still be productive?

I think the answer is yes, but we may have to re-evaluate what it means to be productive or what we want to be productive about. I think waiting in and of itself can be productive in that it accomplishes something. It accomplishes creating space to reflect, to slow down, to wonder and to become aware. Waiting is still productive but because you can’t see the results in the form of a decorated Christmas tree, cookies, gifts, or holiday parties we often don’t think of it as such. To reflect, slow down, wonder and become aware are all things that are essential in us being able to receive the gifts God has for us. This season is supposed to remind us of those gifts and waiting helps us do that. Can you begin to reorient your thinking so that if you were more aware of the gifts of God that day, it would seem like a productive day? Can your to-do list be altered so that quiet time is now an item on it that is just as important as the rest? Can you challenge yourself not to rush through the waiting but find value in what it has to offer?

You all have probably heard the phrase, “Hurry up and wait!”. I am 8 months pregnant, and no saying feels more accurate for my life right now than that. It’s interesting to go through the last couple months of pregnancy during Advent because there are so many similar challenges. During the first trimester you are so tired, nothing on your to-do list gets done and you feel so unproductive until you remember your body formed lungs that day- then you realize, hey that’s not half bad for a day’s work. Much of pregnancy is waiting. If you aren’t a procrastinator and you have prepared everything you need then at some point you are just waiting for the baby to arrive. The important thing to remember though is that this waiting matters. You need this time to prepare your mind for what is to come. You need this time to prepare emotionally and mentally for this big change that is coming- for things to never be the same again. This same type of waiting and reframing the idea of productivity

I’m about to give birth in a couple months for the second time and something that I am reminded of is how when taking care of a newborn, the most important thing is caring for that baby but sometimes it feels so unproductive. You have to remind yourself that if all you did that day was answer the needs of your baby, it was a day well spent. This could mean that the dishes are in the sink, the laundry isn’t done, dinner isn’t a home cooked meal and maybe you didn’t even shower. Having a newborn forces you to rethink productivity and what the purpose of that season of life is all about.

Advent should do the same for all of us. On Christmas day, the birth of a newborn is celebrated. We are called to a different type of productivity- this season of life is meant for something different- Preparing for things to be forever changed.

I encourage you the rest of this Advent season to reframe productivity so that just by waiting you are accomplishing our call as Christians to prepare for a baby to come and change the world.

 Rev. Maggie Niles is the Associate Pastor for Congregational Life at Covenant Presbyterian Church