God of the Gaps in my Schedule, by Ben Jeapes
Photo by Digital Buggu from Pexels
Thank goodness, it’s nearly autumn …
I have surprised myself by discerning a Scrooge-like view of summer. As a working adult, come the end of the summer holidays, I’ve always breathed a slight sigh of relief that we’re back in the saddle.
On the one hand, summer is a time of warmth (well, mostly) and relaxation and all that. A change is as good as a rest. But on the other, if you're a creature of habit with established routines for going about your daily business and doing your work (and guess what, I am), it doesn't half play havoc with them. I have to check the calendar to find the last time we spent an unbroken run of seven days at home.
(I’ll be the first to admit that I’m entirely inconsistent, and that once the holiday season is over and seven unbroken days turns into fourteen and twenty-one and twenty-eight … then I’ll be longing for a break. The first half of the year before summer is spotted with handy bank holidays to catch your breath in – this year more than most, of course – but the second half is just a long, slow slide towards Christmas.)
But on the other hand … I have been learning to work in the gaps between other things. So, I can’t dedicate a leisurely morning or afternoon to a particular job? Maybe I have to content myself with reaching a word target for the day, then switching over to something else. Or snatching just an hour (negotiated with other parties) out of what is meant to be time off, to achieve another target. Or, as with this sentence, typing with one hand while the other holds the phone on which I am currently on hold … And, here’s the key thing. It all gets done. I feel a bit like the Widow of Zarephath might have, if she had been more worried about writing time than food. Somehow, it never runs out.
It is satisfying to turn in a piece of work on time. It is strangely more satisfying to feel the gaps in my schedule meshing like the teeth of a gear.
As Jesus didn’t say: in this world you will face broken routines, but take heart, for I have overcome the broken routines.
Ben Jeapes took up writing in the mistaken belief that it would be easier than a real job (it isn’t). Hence, as well as being the author of eight novels and co-author of many more, he has also been a journal editor, book publisher, and technical writer. His most recent title is a children’s biography of Ada Lovelace. www.benjeapes.com
I have surprised myself by discerning a Scrooge-like view of summer. As a working adult, come the end of the summer holidays, I’ve always breathed a slight sigh of relief that we’re back in the saddle.
On the one hand, summer is a time of warmth (well, mostly) and relaxation and all that. A change is as good as a rest. But on the other, if you're a creature of habit with established routines for going about your daily business and doing your work (and guess what, I am), it doesn't half play havoc with them. I have to check the calendar to find the last time we spent an unbroken run of seven days at home.
(I’ll be the first to admit that I’m entirely inconsistent, and that once the holiday season is over and seven unbroken days turns into fourteen and twenty-one and twenty-eight … then I’ll be longing for a break. The first half of the year before summer is spotted with handy bank holidays to catch your breath in – this year more than most, of course – but the second half is just a long, slow slide towards Christmas.)
But on the other hand … I have been learning to work in the gaps between other things. So, I can’t dedicate a leisurely morning or afternoon to a particular job? Maybe I have to content myself with reaching a word target for the day, then switching over to something else. Or snatching just an hour (negotiated with other parties) out of what is meant to be time off, to achieve another target. Or, as with this sentence, typing with one hand while the other holds the phone on which I am currently on hold … And, here’s the key thing. It all gets done. I feel a bit like the Widow of Zarephath might have, if she had been more worried about writing time than food. Somehow, it never runs out.
It is satisfying to turn in a piece of work on time. It is strangely more satisfying to feel the gaps in my schedule meshing like the teeth of a gear.
As Jesus didn’t say: in this world you will face broken routines, but take heart, for I have overcome the broken routines.
My summer was spent moving house and working in the gaps. Now I'll have cheaper holiday.
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Ben! It is truly satisfying when things in life go as expected and truly much more satisfying when God answers one's prayers at the time one asks!!Blessings.
ReplyDeleteI can't actually believe it's September already! Wishing you a more relaxed autumn, and frequent gaps to get lots of writing done.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't had a holiday...! Life has been overwhelmingly full of clutter we'd rather not have had to do, (like medical stuff) plus I have at last turned in a novel I'd hoped to have completed work on in the spring... Also daughter suddenly announced she was getting married - great news but meant a sudden rush of more to do! Wedding took place on hottest day of the year! Usually love summer but not these new super-heatwaves. Yeah, back t oroutine, and hopefully for not writing another novel - blogs and articless, yes.
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