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Youth Pastors: Make a Hole on Mondays to Feed Your Soul

Youth Pastors: Make a Hole on Mondays to Feed Your Soul

It’s Monday morning and I am sitting in my office being inefficient, on purpose. There are invoices, receipts, new guest cards, attendance sheets and a call-list covering my desk. These things need to get done, but I can’t get to them yet. They can wait, but this hour cannot. This hour is necessary to feed your soul

MY SELFISH HOUR

This selfish hour is the best way I know of to begin my week. Sundays are chock full of people, worship and meetings. Before I let the work-week pull me under, I push back against the tide and make space between last week and this week. In this hole between two weeks I find holy time for growth and restoration. This is my time to piece my tattered self back together. I didn’t realize until recently how much the busyness of Sunday tears and frays my sanity or tilts me off center. It took me 11 years to see that all that ministerial work took a toll on me. Sunday mornings were not my respite; they were my toil. Which is OK, when you realize it. For countless other folks with other weekday obligations and schedules, Sundays are the blessing, but not for me (even extroverted me). I needed something else to patch together purpose.

MY FEEDING TIME

Monday mornings are my weekly “clean meal.” It’s not my time to study for sermons. It’s not personal devotion time. Monday mornings are opportunities to eat well. I have to feed my soul. If I don’t eat well then I get “hangry.” Scripture, spiritual reflections and guided prayers are all part of this Monday morning practice. It is a chance to make a time that could appear inefficient important and centering. I am adrift without it.

MY CENTERING STUDY

Yes, there are other times in the week when I pray, read and study Scripture, but this selfish hour is mine to steal away before the rest of my busy week takes me. It is a chance to remember who called me and worry less about my call log. It is my hour of ministry before I am asked to minister. This first hour of the week is my opportunity to choose faithfulness and fullness over work, a chance to savor what kind of new creation I am becoming. My hour to be empowered. My small rebellion against expectations to be intentionally inefficient to learn more about who I am in order to be more effective.

Maybe this is you. Maybe it’s a different time or practice. When do you redirect your week? Center yourself? Rediscover your true vocation?

Cheers to intentional inefficiencies.

This article originally appeared here.

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Daniel has been an editor with ChurchLeaders for several years. Daniel and his wife, along with an incredible team, helped plant Anchor City Church in San Diego—a third culture, multi-generational church who seeks to join the redemptive mission of God for our city and for the world. Daniel also serves on the advisory board of Justice Ventures International, a non-profit organization working to fight human trafficking and modern-day slavery around the world.