Dealing With Downtime (#7)

Downtime.  The very sound of this word is enough to make you feel down.  What is downtime anyway?  It’s a time in your life when it seems as if you’re on pause.

You may have just lost your job; you may be battling with an illness, or suffering from some other traumatic event/experience.  You, like many today, may have been affected by the current recession.  Let’s face it; you know all too well about downtime.

Well, how should we deal with this situation?

Let’s get some insights from the Bible, the book of Jeremiah to be precise – chapter 29.  The Jews are in captivity in Babylon.  It’s a real downtime situation.  They are away from their home, fearful of the future, not knowing what to do.  No doubt the future looks very bleak.

But God has a solution – He always has.  In V5 He tells them to “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what you produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.  Increase in number there; do not decrease.”

In other words, do something worthwhile in your down time.  Produce.  Do not allow your present circumstance to cripple you.  And when your uptime comes you will have added value to yourself.

How can you apply this to your present situation?  What can you do to be productive?  This requires much thought and prayer, of course.  Perhaps it means enhancing and honing the skills you have, learning a new skill, or taking a course of study.  It might even mean paying attention to some ability you may have neglected.

As I said before, it requires a lot of thought and prayer.  But I am sure your downtime can be uptime!

                                      
©Kerina Hall