It’s a DONSA. That’s military language for Day of No Scheduled Activity. Not vacation. A DONSA. Nothing on the calendar. That’s right. It’s blank. This happens, oh, I don’t know, twice a year. No soccer practice. No work. No Boy Scouts. No dinner parties or evening meetings. Just a DONSA.

I got up this morning…later than usual. I did my reading and drank my coffee, as usual… and then went for a long run. With the whole day in front of me, without any have to, only want to…I felt so strange. How should I fill my day? Paint the room that I have been neglecting for some time now? Work on the manuscript that’s due soon? Sort through all of my unread email?

I’m “training for a marathon” and by that, I mean, I signed up for the marathon and hope I’ll be ready by race day. But travel and work and weather have kept me inside, and off the treadmill, without the mileage I am scheduled to accrue. I have been resting more than usual during training. But while running today, I felt strong and good. I finished the distance I set out to do. Even after all the missed mid-week runs….

While I was running against traffic in the road, avoiding certain trauma patient status by a slip and fall on the ice running on the path, I seriously considered the DONSA, and what it could be…the day to get ahead, the day to check off items from the should do or must do list, and wrestled with how to spend this lottery winner of days…the DONSA. It struck me that my fear of “wasting” the DONSA by doing nothing was unfounded. In fact, I decided, embracing the DONSA, really doing nothing, ignoring the to-do list, would actually put me ahead.

Yep. Crazy talk. In this life where we are programmed for guilt for every wasted moment; challenged to be more “efficient” with apps and tools and lists, we can’t even comprehend the paradox of gain from rest. Yet, I think that’s exactly what I needed today. A run. A long, hot shower. Reading a book by the fire. And going to the local market with my oldest son to buy what we need to make a very nice dinner. Now here I am, dishes done, planning to play games with my kids, and tending to the things I love…a drawn out sipping of a delicious red wine…reading…and writing.

There is gain in the rest. I am ready to play and sleep, and get up tomorrow, not a DONSA, to tackle the day. Not to just check off the to-do list; not just get through the day; but be rested enough to enjoy the work of the day. Ecclesiastes 1:3, 8:15 “What good does it do anyone to work so hard again and again, sun up to sundown? All his labor to gain but a little?.. And so I heartily recommended that you pursue joy, for the best a person can do under the sun is to enjoy life. Eat, drink, and be happy. If this is your attitude, joy will carry you through the toil every day that God gives you under the sun.”

In the big picture, so much of life is meaningless, mundane; to-dos, must-dos. But rest, presence, perspective, challenges me to embrace the DONSA and dive in and enjoy the work of the non-DONSA days. Fear not the missed mid-week runs. The DONSA, a true DONSA, is just what I need to be stronger for the rest of my days.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: My viewpoints are not necessarily reflective of my employer, or any local, regional or national organization that I belong to. As a matter of fact, I pretty much just speak for myself. Please keep that in mind.