Month: May 2012

As an associate, I would like to put my best foot forward in ministry. Unfortunately though, that doesn’t always happen. Don’t get me wrong, I try, but time constraints sometimes cause me to scramble. I’ve preached sermons for which I wish there were several more days to study. I have led meetings where the agenda was loose. I have stood before the youth group with a lesson that really could have used a better game to kick it off. I have even published a blog or two that could have used another editing pass.

I’m not advocating sloppiness. I firmly believe that we are called to give our best in ministry every day. Unfortunately though, there are times when despite our best efforts, we aren’t as prepared as we would like to be. Yet somehow, God uses even our less-than-stellar efforts to do amazing things.

“Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, “Thus far the Lord has helped…

Do you take a day off? Before you answer, let me define the term. A day off is not arriving at the office late on Monday morning. Nor is it spending a half-day blogging every once in a while. Nor is a day off catching up on the reading you need to do for a class, sermon series, or committee. I mean taking a day to unplug, unwind, and just be.

Running on empty is a great song, but a terrible way to do ministry. You and I were called to ministry, and staff ministry specifically, because we are giving people. We want to serve the people around us and give what we have to others. So we might mistakenly think it selfish to take time for ourselves. As I have written previously, one the more important things we can do for the people we serve is to take care of ourselves. There is only so much to give, so we need time to recharge.