That is my theme for 2015. (Do you do resolutions or themes for the new year?)
Brigid Schulte is currently musing to me in, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, & Play When No One Has The Time that I need to... yep, you guessed it... PLAY ever so much more.
A ministry friend frequently shares articles regarding the benefits of being well-rested and unhurried at home and in church, and I often appreciatively read them and mark related books in my to-read list. I believe that is how I first stumbled on this gem.
So I'm resolving to get away from "the overwhelm," as Schulte calls it, and the resultant shrinking of my prefrontal cortex (yes, people, our stressed out brains are actually shrinking under the weight of so much busyness, and thus becoming even less able to handle stress!); out of "contaminated time" where I'm not truly at rest because I'm thinking of what all I've yet to do, and more into "time serenity" where I'm lost in the moment. This is who and how I once was, before I became entrapped in mid-western suburbia.
Another book I've recently read "off the record" so to speak, makes it clear that a pastor's family needs a non-anxious presence to best face the spiritual battles that may come their way. That means time spent in the word & prayer, but also time just spent together having fun as a family and as a couple.
Last year, I resolved to be more hospitable in opening up my home, which meant I spent some chunks of hurried & focused time cleaning and organizing (to a point of being presentable, far from perfect). The more I invite others over, the cleaner my house gets! Crazy how that works.
So now, even though the big room in our basement, which would double our entertaining space if it were clean, still looks like one of those hoarder shows visited but gave up halfway through, it is time to PLAY HARD. PLAY WELL. AND PLAY OFTEN.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the new year, whatever they may be.
And please be encouraged that God -- who has always been -- was with you at your beginning, and every new beginning you've ever experienced. May you experience His blessings in a new way this year -- both in your personal life and ministry!
-rg-
