The Most Meaningful Work
Ironically, the older I get, the more I’m focusing on long-term plans.
Take my Big Idea Bible project. I started in 2021 and thought it would take seven years. Now I think it’s going to take me ten years, until the end of 2031, until I finish the first phase. Even then, I won’t be done. I want to refine my work and fill my paper Bible — the one I use all the time — with the best of my notes from each of my Scripture journals. I have other plans, too. I’ve never embarked on such a long-term reading plan before, and I’m loving it.
I have another, smaller project. In 2014-2015, and then again in 2018, I ran a lot of races. Then I got injured and stopped. Last year, I started running again. Last year, running felt mostly painful. I struggled through my half-marathon in October and didn’t feel good about it. This year, I ran an 10K in April, and for the first time in years, running felt good. I just completed another 10K, have another one soon, and another half-marathon in October. I’ve already signed up for another race next year. Running is more personal, and these goals are more short-term, but it’s helping me learn to sacrifice for goals that are months or more away.
Then there are the books I want to write. I have ideas. I am working hard at moving those ideas from ideas in my head to actual projects that will result in something on the page.
Only God knows if I will complete either of these projects. Sometimes I feel a bit foolish for taking on long projects like these, especially a ten-year project to work through the Bible. But if God wills, I want to do more hard things that take long periods of work but that will pay off more in the end.
In his book How to Begin, Michael Bungay Stainer argues that we get to complete one big project every five years. For most of us, even if we’re young, that means we don’t have very many big projects left. Rather than shrinking back and attempting only small plans, I think that means we should pick the projects that really matter and invest in them. Start now, because these projects will take a long time, and you have less time left than you think.
I thought about this the other day when I received a new biography of Spurgeon by Ray Rhodes. It’s almost 700 pages long, and I can’t wait to read it. I don’t know how long it took Rhodes to write it, but I know that it took far more research and time than many would be willing to give. The results, I believe, will bless more people than we could guess, both now and in generations to come. The book cost Rhodes a lot to write; the payoff will be even greater for all of us.
When you're young, you might think you have time for the quick and cheap things, like social media posts and AI-generated content, stuff that really doesn't matter. But even then, you have less time than you think.
A lot of things can be done quickly and cheaply, but they’re not the things that will last.
Think about the big projects you want to complete, the big books you want to read. There’s not much time left. Devote yourself to what’s costly and what lasts.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” Plant those trees. Some projects will only get done with a long timeline and lots of effort before the results are ever seen. The less time I have, the more I want to spend that time on the things that will last.
