Holy Club 26

How do I spend my spare time?

There's a  common fallacy around that if you work for God (especially in a paid capacity), that its a 24/7/365 job. In one sense this is true - the great commandment is to love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your strength. However, that's not the same as working non-stop.

Someone told me at the beginning of my ministry to put one new thing on every Church Council agenda - this way about one in four ideas would be accepted and change would happen gently. In 1990, I went to be minister of South Chadderton Methodist Church and met a council who agreed with every new idea. Sadly, I didn't have the sense to stop suggesting new ideas - about three years later I had an extended time off work because my body swelled up and I couldn't move my joints. After endless tests, the medics decided that I'd simply worked myself into such a state that my body had given up on me.

As a colleague wisely put it: 'sometimes God has to put you flat on your back to get you to look up!' 

After that I did some careful diary watching and journalling and discovered that I could work about 50 hours a week of reasonable quality output. After that, I was better off windsurfing - I didn't get more done, I just worked more slowly. That was 25 years ago, I've not measured my output properly for a while - I suspect it's diminished to 40-45 hours per week. I've met people who can work hard for longer - I'm never sure whether to admire or pity them!

God put sabbath days rests and times of jubilee in creation for a reason! A lot of our guilt could be removed if we understood this well. One of the reasons for keeping a journal is not to feel guilty about what we haven't done, but to notice what we have.

In a conversation with a colleague recently I asked the question: 'If Jesus said, "come unto me all you heavy laden, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light", then whose burden am I carrying?'

Whose burden are you carrying?

Bible passage to meditate on: Matthew 11:25-30