I will be the first to admit that I am a task oriented person. I like lists and I like task lists. I like to sit down, start a task, complete a task and then move on down the list. One of the first ‘tasks’ I do each week is to write a to-do list for the week. Now, I do not think that any of this is wrong at all but this week I have been strongly reminded, by many different circumstances, that I need to be better at ‘being’ and to possibly ‘do’ less.
What does this mean? It basically means that I find it very easy to be seen as busy ‘doing’ lots of stuff, but I perhaps forget to just ‘be’. To sit at the feet of God in prayer, to be present in the lives of my leaders and youth. To not see these things as something to be ticked off my list but as ways of ‘being’ the person God is calling me to be.
One change I have made recently is how I spend my Tuesdays. My Tuesday start with a Inglewood Church pastors meeting and breaky where we talk about church issue and spend time in prayer. Then we have breakfast together. These times are really good and I have found them to be very beneficial. The change I have made is what I do after this. Without trying to make it a ‘task’ with a set time or anything, I have decided to start the rest of my Tuesday in the youth room praying, singing, reading the bible etc. I have no set ‘time’ for this, it might be 20 minutes, it might be an hour, but I am finding it helpful to ground me, help me ‘be’ and not just try and ‘do do do’ all day. THEN I go to my desk and work out my ‘to do list’.
This is one small part of what it means to ‘be’ as opposed to just ‘do’. I am still putting flesh on this skeleton as to how it looks across my week and across the youth ministry I am involved in, but I have definitely sensed God reminding me about this throughout this week. We’ll see how it goes!
