This week has been a bit challenging. It’s hard for me to acknowledge this feeling when my “challenging” isn’t that challenging in comparison to others who face things far more painful and exhausting than I do. But there is something to identifying how we feel and why we feel that way—and there’s nothing wrong with saying how we feel.
It makes space for others when we identify with humanity.
A divine hospitality happens when we open up.
I really believe that.
So it’s been a rough week. Coy’s younger brother was hit by a truck while riding his bicycle to work.
He could have died. If he had made the choice to skip his helmet that day, he would not have survived.We spent the week praying and wondering if we should rearrange our obligations and get on a plane to Ohio.
Coy stayed close to the phone just in case. Thankfully, he is on the road to recovery. In fact, he is at home with his parents now, healing and resting before he has surgery to fix some of the broken bones.
God is so good to watch over him.
In the meantime, spring is in the air. And that little scratch in my throat is back—just enough to be irritating.
Mya has had potty accidents all week. Weird because the child has not once in her 3.25 years of life has used the bed as her personal loo. I can count the times she “didn’t make it” at school on one hand. Not sure what’s going on with all of that lately.
Kirra has been a bit emotional and dramatic. She is six, telling everyone that she will be seven soon (even though she doesn’t have her birthday until March). She is crazy about her best friend Mia and asks me every day about going to her house to play. She’s been doing great in school—it’s just the time before and after that gets a little nutso with whining and tiffs with her sister. I admit, there are those days when I’m ready to put them in bed at 6.
Coy had a giant tree (that was hanging over our garage) cut down over the weekend. He is managing three or four house projects while being super dad, campus pastor, sermonator, blog writer, and a myriad of other things. Nothing wrong with any of this—just hoping that our 1959 “jonila joy” of a home will begin to stop breaking so much so my man can get a moment to think straight.
We really have an exceptional life—nothing to complain about—but it’s as busy as ever. And I see our selves needing to be even more intentional about Sabbath. Last weekend I had an entire day to catch up. Do laundry. Sit down. Read. Rest. I’m pretty sure side-effects live somewhere next to the fountain of youth.
A good friend messaged me to check-in, she wanted to make sure I was resting. I appreciate that about her. She knows the importance of rest and isn’t willing to let a sister run around with her hair on fire for too long. I’ve actually been doing well, but the reminder was great timing to help me prepare for the summer and for the school year ahead.
I want to keep the main things the main things. In order to do that, we need to make room for that.
I reminded my ministry friends on tour this weekend that margin is the most important thing we can have in our lives next to Jesus.
If we don’t have time carved out to withdraw…
- daily
- weekly
- monthly
- yearly
We’ll miss the sweet moments of rest, refection, and restoration that we truly need to be shaped by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I have some work to do.
- Emptying the inboxes.
- Delegating tasks.
- Focusing on relational ministry.
- Neighboring more and programming less.
- Quieting the calendar.
- Saying no or saying not now.
- Developing a vibrant prayer life.
- Begin moving. Run. Walk. Dance. Breathe.
- Sleeping
- Saying yes to bike riding, conversations, and a naps on our old couch.
- Making sure that our family time is set a part at the beginning of the year. Nothing touches it. It’s sacred.
But we pitch a fit because “we’ve worked hard to change the youth pastors are lazy perception…will slowing down mean that we’ll be labeled lazy again?”
I think not.
As we recharge, refuel, rest our lives pour out more of what we need most—Christlikeness and the fruits of the Spirit—these two things by themselves have enough power to revitalize and bring revival to any ministry. In fact, we may look much more busy because we’ll be in peoples lives more. We won’t be drained. We won’t shy away from conversations. We won’t choose the lazy train because we know that rest is coming!
Our job is to be available. As Christ was and is available to us. But even Jesus needed to withdraw. He retreated, he rested, he prayed.
When was the last time you had a day of rest?
