The past two weeks rank right up there as two of the busiest weeks of my life. Hence, the hiatus on the very new blog. I had a good there week streak going there and then WHAM, things got out of control and it took a bit to get things back on track.
A couple of notes from that experience.
First, it's really important to be confident in your weaknesses. I'm not fully sure what it means yet. It's just been a thought that's been in my head the past week or so as I've considered my church. The longer I'm in ministry the more and more I feel like God should have picked someone else to do my job.
I used to think I was good at a lot of stuff; now I feel like I'm good at very little. I think that's part of having sober judgment of oneself (Romans 12:2). It's okay to know that you've been gifted in certain areas, but it's just as important to know that you're not gifted in other areas. Very few people are gifted in a lot of areas, although some people are. The point is that when things get stressful, or busy, or the church is growing, or when it's not growing, my temptation is to think that our church would be better off with someone who has a different set of gifts. Maybe someone who isn't so limited. The temptation is to tell God what type of person would work best in His scheme.
Of course the problem is that he didn't pick someone else. He told me to do it. I'm okay with that. But I also need to remind myself that I'm okay with that, and actually, that it's good news to remember I'm a weakling when things are tough so that he gets the glory and not me.
Second, when you don't know about your weakness, you'll burn out quick. I've said in the past that most burn out doesn't happen from busyness but because people are being busy at things they aren't passionate about. I still think that's true, but both types of burnout happen. Just being busy can burn a person out, even if they are doing things that they love. So maybe a better way to say it is to simply say that the people who burn out are the people who can't admit they are weak.
Some people burn out because they do things they stink at, and it kills them. Lots of pastor's fall into this trap. They go to a church as a solo pastor and end up trying to do everything on their own, either because the congregation expects it of them or because they think the congregation expects it of them. Soon, they burn out. They can't do it all. That's ludicrous. If they could do it all we wouldn't need the rest of the body. It'd just be the pastor and Jesus and a bunch of disconnected members. But it isn't.
Other people burn out because they get really busy, even doing things they love, and fail to realize that the world doesn't actually rest on their shoulders. The old saying is that "I'll stop when the Devil does". I'm not the first to respond, "yeah, the devil doesn't stop, but Jesus did." Jesus took sabbaths and rest and asks us to do the same. He doesn't expect us to be the savior. We can't save ourselves, let alone anyone else. Admitting that is the first step to letting a lot of stuff go that we just don't need to stress about.
So, I'm still working on this. It seems like good advice, though. I'm hoping to get better at applying it.