My
Status Symbol
By Lexi Cole Ellis
“...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
In the popular bestseller, The
Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown writes about ideas to cultivate and
things to let go.
“If we want to live a Wholehearted life, we have to become
intentional about cultivating sleep and play, and about letting go of
exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth.” [1]
But you don’t understand,
I wanted to respond. I’m
a first-time parent of a newborn. My continual exhaustion is something I’m
secretly proud of. It’s almost a badge of honor that I wear. And productivity
is one of the few things I feel I’m good at. I’m the person who writes things
on her to-do list after doing them…just so I can check more off the list.
The importance of living counter-culturally and “cultivating play and sleep by letting go of exhaustion and productivity as status symbol” is quite biblical. God modeled rest with Sabbath, and even the Gospel writers mention Jesus sleeping despite a great storm that comes. Sleep and play I can get on board with. Realigning my schedule to make space for things that truly matter is easier to write about. It’s easy to write a devotional about the importance of making prayer a priority. It would be simpler to proclaim the important of rest and Sabbath.
But when I look deep into my heart, what I’m most convicted of is how, deep-down, I feel pride when I’m exhausted because of all that I’ve done. And God is about the heart. So when I brag about how exhausted I am and how productive I was in spite of it, I’m relying on my own strength. And it feeds into a false truth that what I do correlates to my being enough. Ironically, when I’m busy feeling proud of how busy I am…too often my priorities are out of whack. Sleep and play and spending time with God don’t seem to make to the to-do list.
For me, adding play and sleep as a priority is the easy part...even with a newborn. But letting go of how proud I am that I’m busy? Yup, that’s where I need some work. Because God isn’t impressed with what I can do. The crossed-out to-do lists don’t grant me salvation. What God does long for is a relationship with me that recognizes (not what I can do but) all that He has done for me.
The importance of living counter-culturally and “cultivating play and sleep by letting go of exhaustion and productivity as status symbol” is quite biblical. God modeled rest with Sabbath, and even the Gospel writers mention Jesus sleeping despite a great storm that comes. Sleep and play I can get on board with. Realigning my schedule to make space for things that truly matter is easier to write about. It’s easy to write a devotional about the importance of making prayer a priority. It would be simpler to proclaim the important of rest and Sabbath.
But when I look deep into my heart, what I’m most convicted of is how, deep-down, I feel pride when I’m exhausted because of all that I’ve done. And God is about the heart. So when I brag about how exhausted I am and how productive I was in spite of it, I’m relying on my own strength. And it feeds into a false truth that what I do correlates to my being enough. Ironically, when I’m busy feeling proud of how busy I am…too often my priorities are out of whack. Sleep and play and spending time with God don’t seem to make to the to-do list.
For me, adding play and sleep as a priority is the easy part...even with a newborn. But letting go of how proud I am that I’m busy? Yup, that’s where I need some work. Because God isn’t impressed with what I can do. The crossed-out to-do lists don’t grant me salvation. What God does long for is a relationship with me that recognizes (not what I can do but) all that He has done for me.
GOING DEEPER:
- What’s one small step you
can take this week to let go of exhaustion and productivity as a status
symbol?
FURTHER READING:
Lexi’s family consists
of her, her husband, Andrew, her daughter, Sloane, and her dog, Calvin. She
teaches sixth grade Reading and Writing and serves with Children’s Ministries.
[1] Brown, Brené, The
Gifts of Imperfection, Hazelden
Publishing ©2010
