Are you working more hours than before? According to today's Wall Street Journal, nearly two in three full-time American employees say their workloads have increased in the last 12 to 24 months. Almost half say the heavier burden has affected their personal lives in negative ways. So the Journal offers ways to increase productivity without working more--smarter, not harder, as they say.

One suggestion: work hardest when you work best. If you're not a morning person, do easy things first and harder things when you're more alert. If you do better in the morning, try to get to work earlier and leave earlier. But if you do, send an occasional early morning email to someone so people know you're working full hours. If you're neither a morning nor an evening person, the Journal doesn't offer much help, I'm afraid.

Another idea is to set deadlines to complete assignments, even if they aren't due by a certain date. I guess the increased productivity is supposed to outweigh the added stress and blood pressure elevation. And since many workers lose two hours a day to office distractions such as visits from colleagues, put a sign on your door or desk that says you're busy while designating a regular time slot for colleagues to stop by. I'm glad God isn't reading this article.

Above all, the article advises, stop doing things which are low-value and ineffective. Unfortunately, the writer doesn't tell me how to know what those are. So I'm left wondering if the article is low-value and ineffective.

It all seems to boil down to more work done in less time. The more I can do, the more successful I am. In this context, Larry Crabb's book, The Pressure's Off, seems relevant. The Christian counselor makes the distinction between the "law of linearity" and the "law of liberty." "Linearity" is cause and effect--do A so B will result. Applied to writing this essay, its logic is obvious. Applied to God, its effect can be disastrous. Pray to get results. Worship to receive help. Read the Bible to solve problems. "Liberty" is grace--do A to know the God of A, and B will result in his perfect will. Pray to spend time with the Father. Worship to honor God. Read the Bible to draw close to the Spirit. And God's intention will be done in my life as a result, not as a goal.

In our work today we may well need the Journal's rules for increasing productivity. In our souls, let's try to avoid them. Let's spend some time with our Lord this morning not to be blessed, but because we are. And we'll be most blessed of all.

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