Chapter 11 gave me so many times to reflect back on some of the trainee floats I had been a part of. In fact there were so many parts of this chapter that brought me back to the many summers on the water!
Page 202, "I learned that emotional health and spiritual maturity cannot be separated, that maturity is about love and character, not gifts or knowledge." This brought me directly to the Super Ultra Packet, "God and People care more about and are more interested in character and maturity than skill and ability." This has been a reminder that I have taken with me off the water as well in all my jobs and all my relationships and specifically in my relationship with Christ. We are so quick to land on what we can do and to look for identity and recognition in the doing of our lives and not the being in our lives. It is such a balance in our faith between the doing and being.
Page 208, "As Christian leaders, one of our greatest challenges is to manage ourselves. How can we be in communion with other people, if I am not in communion with myself? How can I be in a healthy relationship with others if I am not in a healthy relationship with myself? How can I be intimate with you if I am not intimate with myself?"
page 206, "When our life with God is not sufficient to sustain our work for God, we too find ourselves struggling with our integrity."
Page 208, "Jesus models for us healthy self-care. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, we observe him resting and enjoying what others give to him before going to the cross (John 12:1-8)."
These last 3 quotes stuck out for me as I remembers some of my areas of struggle as I walked through the trainee curriculum, I am a chronic spinner of too many plates and often though I am busy I feel so lonely. I am a doer but do not take care of myself well. As much as I love serving others and encouraging others if I am not leaning into Jesus and his ways then I am not going to be able to do the serving he has gifted me to do as well he has equipped and prepared me too. My encouragement to all of you as you prepare and move into the summer is to take care of yourself and relationship with Jesus, that should never be compromised. That is a part of being a servant leader. Abiding in Jesus is essential,he is the vine and we are the branches. The fruit that we will bear is Jesus' to bear for us all we need to do is abide in him and the fruit with come. Abide, Abide, Abide.
Steph it is difficult to read this book and not hear all the trainee material is the background. My thought through this book has been, " careful author not to make emotional health a skill to be mastered." The funny thing about character and maturity is that there are no experts only students!
ReplyDeleteReid! That is so true, he is walking a fine line with the emotional health piece and turning it into a skill!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post I heard echoing in my head -- "Apart from me you can do nothing." I think that's part of the abiding passage of John 15. Your post and John 15 provide great perspective for me as I synthesize chapter 11 and the entire book. Thanks Steph!
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