Don't Dismiss Maintenance

One of the phrases which has long been bandied about in Methodism is "Mission rather than maintenance", a sentiment with which I heartily agree. But at the supers meeting I got to reflecting how much time we actually need to spend on maintenance in our lives. By 'maintenance' I mean not actually doing new work, but keeping things in order and functioning properly so that they are readily available when called upon.

I easily managed to identify five categories each of which it is important to spend time on. The examples I give are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the range of activities:

• HOME MAINTENANCE means keeping the house in a fit state to be lived in and able to accommodate whatever other activities may take place in it. It includes washing up, mowing the lawn, buying furniture and clearing the loft.
• PERSONAL MAINTENANCE means ensuring my body and mind remain fit and healthy. It includes shaving, eating, going on brisk walks and buying clothes.
• FAMILY MAINTENANCE means developing good relationships with the family (and I ought to include friends here too). It includes talking together, helping with homework, kissing, phoning a friend and everyday trips out.
• SPIRITUAL MAINTENANCE means staying in touch with God and deepening my faith. It includes prayer, theological reflection and going on retreats.
• MINISTERIAL MAINTENANCE means creating a physical environment and developing the necessary skills which will best allow me to function as a minister of the Methodist church. It includes dealing with post and email, organising a filing system and networking with others.

Doing maintenance can be fulfilling, enjoyable, satisfying and worthwhile. It's a good job, because it is a necessary part of life. We couldn't survive without it. We may as well enjoy it.

There is nothing to stop me multi-tasking. Reading a book over breakfast, or doing something fun with the family which is good exercise - such things tick more than one box.

But what is the point of these musings? One is that I ought to be aware of what I am doing. Too often I do things just because I feel like doing them, but they have no point or purpose beyond that. You could argue that it is perfectly valid to indulge in such things as part of my personal maintenance (retaining a healthy balance of work and play), and indeed if I choose to relax, then that is OK. But my failing is that I often just slip into doing stuff (whether trivial leisure or trivial work activities) without thinking. I've decided it would be helpful if I consciously set out to do 'half-an-hour of personal maintenance' for example. There are times when "why am I doing this?" would be a good question, and the answer may well be "it serves no purpose at all, not even in performing worthwhile life maintenance" in which case I am wasting my time and ought to choose a different activity.

A second reason for these musings is that I need to be careful about spending all my time on maintenance and never actually doing stuff for real. (But that's the subject of another post.)