Slowing

Whenever I preach on something, God seems to really go to work on me the week before. The other week I preached on love, primarily about the need to allow ourselves to be interrupted by others. Guess what happened the week before? It makes me want to be careful about what I choose to speak on. I'm preaching on slowing soon. This is a pet topic for me. I remember a low point a couple of years ago when I envied a pastor I knew who was in the hospital, and who later died. I envied him because he had escaped his crazy schedule. The moment this thought entered my mind, I realized that I needed to change. I still recall that thought and shake my head in amazement. I guess I'm still looking for the easy yoke and the light burden. I had lunch with a pastor friend today. We were comparing notes and agreed that ministry looked a lot better when we thought the weeks would stretch out in front of us. In reality, it's hard to keep the main thing the main thing - to make time for people, to take time to think, to keep the big picture in view. It's easy to get sucked into management. I'm not complaining, because I'm in an easier situation than others. But it's still a struggle to slow, to be still, to live life at a sane pace. I don't want to wait until retirement to find a sustainable pace.

Comments

[Arthur]

Whenever one opens oneself up to the demands of others, -- whether in ministry or business, -- one can expect one's schedule to become crazy. This has been my first full year in business for myself, and every customer I have seems to expect to come first when they require something from me. It becomes a balancing act to try to keep to some sort of schedule, and yet still meet the unforseen expectations of the people one is trying to serve. I have developed an appreciation for Pastors and what they accomplish in any given day. I can only imagine the demands on their time and attention. To quote St Francis de Sales: "Half an hour's meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed."

[Brian Mullins]

I just blogged on soemthing similar myself. Things get complicated when you main things doesn't mesh with what your church thinks your main thing ought to be. And there could be a dozen variations on that, too. And from what I've observed, retirement just makes things worse. We might not find a truly sustainable pace this side of heaven! If you ever want to follow Jesus' example and really get away. I have just the spot picked out for you on our center down south...

[Deb]

Praying that God will slow you gently. Coming to a crashing halt is often very painful.

[steve]

I hear you loud and clear. On my recent travels I've picked up the book "in praise of slow" several times - but it's always been too pricey and I'm not sure I'd have time to read it - but I wonder if seeing the title on my shelf would help me think of slowing down? ;)