Over the past couple of years I’ve been trying to intentionally slow down the pace of work & life. Our society today leans heavily toward break-neck speed. We over schedule ourselves & family, are instantly accessible to anyone who wants us, and have so many sources of information & entertainment begging for our attention that it’s not even funny!
And I haven’t even mentioned the demands of work, yet.
My tendency was to constantly be trying to “produce”, whether that was at work or at home, and that’s not a healthy way to live. I needed to slow down. Here are a few areas I try to be intentional about this:
- Eating. Sounds silly, but if you’re like I was you might find yourself eating in front of your computer, grabbing a nutrition bar instead of a healthy lunch, getting dinner through the drive through and eating it on the way to the midweek service . . . you get the idea. There are times when these are necessary, but they should be the exception and not the rule. I have tried to make it a point to sit down, even for a few minutes, and use the time not only for eating but for taking a mental break or engaging with someone else.
- Exercising. For all of use 40+ers, you know the importance of maintaining a good exercise routine. With the demands of ministry, this went right out the back door for me. But I need to exercise – as much because it provides a mental “think” time as for the physical benefits. And what I found is that I don’t have to take it from my work time (heaven forbid!) – I should always be able to find 30-60 minutes in a 24 hour block for this priority.
- Evaluating. What are my defined priorities? On a personal level, I’ve tried to adopt the Luke 2:52 model where it says Jesus grew “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people”. This means I want to grow mentally, physically, spiritually and relationally. And since I know that growth happens daily, and not in a day, I need to make these things daily habits. How do I know if I’m doing this if I’m not evaluating? So I try regularly to ask myself questions like:
- What have I learned lately? Am I reading a chapter a day like I’ve committed to?
- Am I meeting my exercise goals? Maintaining a healthy weight? Getting the sleep I need?
- Am I feeding myself a healthy spiritual diet? How am I being challenged spiritually? How am I practically living out my faith – not as a pastor but as a Christ-follower?
- What relationships have I invested in today? Am I following well? Am I leading well?
- Embracing. By this I mean there is so much more to life than our work and ministry that I was missing, or at least not embracing as I should. Personal pursuits, family events and so much more. Oh, I was “at” almost every event, but I wasn’t always 100% present. For me, it was hard to fully focus on the Saturday family event when I knew I had 1500 kids showing up Monday morning for our big Summer event. But I try now to fully embrace what I’m doing right now. I realized what I was saying, essentially, was that the event that was occupying my mind was more important than the people I was presently with. But if I manage myself and my work properly, then that event will take care of itself and I can be free to be present with whatever is happening right now.
Slowing down is always a challenge. We ministry leader types seem to have a particular problem with this. But it is so important to realize that it is a must. Jesus did – have you noticed how many times it says he left to be alone & pray or rest? – so why in the world would I ever think I should follow any other model?
