By Betsy Gonwa, 
Working on the yard began as a way to fill the time at home, something to do with our COVID summer. In its birthing stages, it seemed like a project to be executed and completed. But instead, it has been a process. Establishing a healthy lawn may have begun as a project of one summer, but I am coming to realize that it is a process that will not end.
My professor husband used to grade stacks of papers. Now, with COVID, and all the assignments being graded over the internet, there is no stack of papers to grow visibly shorter as he plugs along. Instead, he marks up his students’ assignments on a tablet and enters the grades directly into the computer. But still he will say when I ask about his progress, “It’s moving along.”
My mind longs to hear some kind of quantifying answer, “I’m halfway through,” or “I’m almost finished.” Or better yet, “Done!” But my experience with the ongoing yard project combined with my husband’s choice of words have contrived to bring me to a new place of awareness about my own language. Instead of measuring my progress on a project that I take on by how close I am to completion (or not), I prefer to focus on movement, and I am realizing that movement alone is enough.
For me the feeling is completely different with this focus. When I look for completion, I am easily discouraged, but when I observe and take time to notice movement, I can find encouragement for myself. If you want to be encouraged, try it for yourself. Is there movement in your life that you can notice today?
