The Art of Subtraction
School has started in our area. My own children started school this past Monday and Tuesday with only a modicum of grumbling. With the beginning of school, the shape of our days has begun to transform from the slightly less structured timeline to one with more form as we add in school drop-offs and pick-ups as well as the smattering of extracurriculars they participate in.
With the return to school, I have been thinking about math – subtraction in particular. It seems to me that many of us are very good at addition but less adept at subtraction. We eagerly add things to our calendars – many fun, good, things. But sometimes those things become difficult to remove and they linger in our lives, taking up time that we once gave so willingly but now do so less enthusiastically.
Bob Goff is an author, lawyer, and speaker (and I would argue somewhat of a modern day theologian). I cannot remember the podcast I was listening to where he was the guest and he said that he quits something every week. He decided that it would be better for him if, every Thursday, he quit something to free up space in his life. Apparently, they were recording this podcast on a Thursday, so I laughed when he said to the host, “Well, it’s Thursday! Quit something!”
I think I laughed both at the simplicity and challenge of it. And the audacity to think it would be so easy to put down whatever thing I had taking up space and time on my calendar. How could I possibly just… quit something? And if I did quit something, what would happen? What if that was the wrong decision? Well, that would be a bit of a bummer… but what if it was the right decision?
In John 10:10, Jesus is in the middle of the parable of the Good Shepherd when he says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” I think we often confuse abundant life with adding things in to our lives. We might even mistake the abundant life with a busy schedule or long to-do list. But Jesus doesn’t say, “I came that you may have a busy life” or “I came so that you could have a long to-do list.” (Though, as a busy person with a long to-do list, that would have been convenient.)
While the abundant life Jesus is talking about will involve addition at times, I think it also involves subtraction. What is not serving us? What is not helping us love others like Jesus loves us? What is in the way of our relationship with God? Is there something that we might subtract that would allow us to inch closer to loving others well or that might incrementally allow us to expand our relationship with God?
I can’t say what the answers to those questions might be for you and I’m only partly certain on what they could be for me. But I’ll think on it. Maybe we can leave behind some self-doubt or hesitation about our own belovedness. Perhaps we could subtract a little judgment and that would allow a little curiosity to grow. Maybe there is an obligation that we could ease away from so that we might use that time to connect with God or others whom we love.
In a little bit, I’ll leave the office and go on the pick-up rounds for my children who do not drive yet. I had to necessarily add in items to my schedule with school’s start. But Bob Goff’s laughing voice reminds me that it’s Thursday, so we have a permission slip to quit something. We needn’t immediately fill the time with something else (that would just be more addition), but we can leave that time/space open in our lives for God to work.
So, with the start of school, perhaps we’ll revisit math. May we become a little better at subtraction so we can make room for the abundant life God is calling us into daily.
