Congratulations, you’ve made it! Another school year in the books and hopefully you feel you’ve had another successful year of ministry. Usually when I get to this point of the year I’m able to take a step back and rest. I can get a much needed break and get a renewed perspective, but this year is a little different.
Due to a number of new projects at BASIC I have a longer to-do list than normal for the summer and we are expecting a new baby boy any day now, which means lots of projects at home too. It’s tempting to just push through and get as much done as possible (especially before the baby comes), but I’ve sensed that would put me in a place where I would very soon go from worn out to burnt out and my family and ministry would suffer for it. So, I’m going to preach to myself as I share with you today.
It’s easy to get caught up in the every day doing – details for planning events, making sure student leaders are doing tasks they’ve been assigned, counseling students, writing sermon messages – that we forget to step back every once in awhile. So, I want to challenge you to make yourself rest. Thankfully there’s a summer break for our college ministry, but that “break” also means graduation parties, family BBQ’s, summer projects at home, etc. Before the craziness of summer begins take some much needed rest.
Put aside the to-do list, turn off notifications, and be intentional to not check your email. It’s in rest that we get a renewed perspective on life and ministry. Often I get the most inspiration and vision for what God wants next for our family and ministry during or right after a period of rest.
It is absolutely vital that you allow yourself rest and get a renewed perspective for your life and ministry.
I’ll leave you with this. I started working for BASIC in August of 2009. We got to the end of that first school year working together (4 out of 5 of us were new staff at BASIC) and my boss sat us down. He told us how proud he was of our team and all that we had accomplished during that year. Then he explained that he felt like our staff had been like a train running a million miles an hour making no stops. In that short time we had done much more than most 5 person organizations, but he recognized the need for us to rest so we could hit the ground running when the next school year started. So, we took it easy that summer. Sure, we had things to work on and get done, but the pace was much different. I think that was one of the most important things we did that year to ensure that the next year would be even more successful than the last.
I’m excited for what we accomplished at BASIC this past year and I hope you feel the same way about your ministry, but the only way to ensure next year is even better and more successful is to get some much needed rest and a renewed perspective. Just do it!