Reflections on Leisure this Labor Day

I have a question for you to consider today:
If you did not need a job or a wage in order to live, what would you do with your time?

This may be a silly question for those of you who are already retired… but what would you have done in young adulthood if you didn’t need a job to support yourself?
Would you have pursued the same career?
Would you pursue a career at all?
How long would you have spent basking in the nothing-ness of your days before you got bored?

Would you have pursued art? Or music?
Tried to write a story that lived in your head?
Would you cook or read or volunteer your time?
Or would you cultivate your garden and tackle all of those DIY projects that you promised yourself that you would do, “once I have energy”?

In the 1970’s, it was predicted that we would only work 20 hours a week at our jobs based on the steady increase of productivity in the workplace.  Technology was improving, allowing humans to do less work.  And so, it followed, we would be able to work less and pursue whatever artistic and creative endeavors we so desired.

But this vision of the future is not the version future we ended up with.  Instead, work has expanded to the size of time that we allow it to.  Cell phones mean that we are accessible 24/7, laptops and tablets mean we can carry work with us wherever we go, and a desire for metrics means that there is always another computer program to enter in data into to see if we are maximizing our time and resources wisely.  We traded a future of creative leisure for an obsession with hard work and productivity.  While Artificial Intelligence could be trained to do menial tasks that humans dislike doing, it is instead being trained to do creative work, like creating art or writing movies, that humans would otherwise enjoy doing.

When I first read the predictions from the 1970’s compared to our workplace culture today, I felt like Kristen Bell’s character in The Good Place when she finally realizes that the supposed heaven she was in was actually the Bad Place.  (Sorry for the spoiler if you haven’t seen this fantastic show!)  But this realization is why I have come to love Labor Day and I love preaching about rest and how Christians and activists fought and died so that we could have a 5-day workweek with 2 days of rest.  And it is why I go on and on about the importance of rest (and not feeling guilty about resting) - but there is one more part to my yearly soapbox:

Life is about more than just work. Life is meant to be enjoyed.
 
So, what would you do if you had leisure time?
What would you do if you were to do something purely because you enjoy it?
And I hope you get some time this weekend to do just that.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris