Road trip countdown: 3 days!

The last two weeks have been remarkably busy. I took a day trip to San Luis Obispo for a bachelor party, and the corresponding wedding the following weekend. I started getting windows installed in my house. I had pretty much every evening busy with some sort of social gathering or hangout, and I was constantly on the move at work. I've had to get my car tuned up and smog checked. On top of that, I remember my parents realized they had some free time, and so did I, so they came over and helped me think of how I wanted to design a certain corner of my kitchen that's begging for a cupboard to be built in it.

That amount of responsibility sort of put me over the edge. But I just kept reminding myself that my road trip is coming up, and I'm shirking all of my responsibilities, being completely unproductive for two whole weeks!

I tend to only value activities that are measurably productive, but as I've been reading more about worship in For the Beauty of the Church, worship is all about non-productivity. I think God's a lot more interested in our ability to slow down and relax than He is in our ability to get things accomplished.

I read an article on Revelant Magazine about waiting on God, and the following quote really stood out to me:

Sue Monk Kidd tells a story that reflects our often mistaken viewpoint on waiting. During a retreat at a monastery, in her restless state, she notices a monk:

 "[He was] sitting perfectly still beneath a tree. There was such reverence in his silhouette, such tranquil sturdiness, that I paused to watch. He was the picture of waiting.

"Later I sought him out. 'I saw you today sitting beneath the tree—just sitting there so still. How is it that you can wait so patiently in the moment? I can't seem to get used to the idea of doing nothing.'

"He broke into a wonderful grin. 'Well, there's the problem right there, young lady. You've bought into the cultural myth that when you're waiting you're doing nothing.'

"Then he took his hands and placed them on my shoulders, peered straight into my eyes and said, 'I hope you'll hear what I'm about to tell you. I hope you'll hear it all the way down to your toes. When you're waiting, you're not doing nothing. You're doing the most important something there is. You're allowing your soul to grow up. If you can't be still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be.'”

So my goal for the road trip is to avoid having an agenda. The only thing I care about is leaving one day and coming back by the 10th of September. All that happens in-between is reasonably planned but not terribly thought-out, and completely open for improvisation. Hopefully this trip will be what my soul needs in order to grow up.