Catherine writes...
Diaries. I don't have one, quite funny when I suddenly remember that I should be doing something in 10 minutes, and then have a mega rush to get there vaguely on time :) Reckon a diary can be good, stops the mass panic, the questions over what time I need to be somewhere because I have forgotten, the ringing up the doctors to find out when my appointment is.... But when it dictates what we do and overides the natural response, then it becomes a problem. The person is upset, but I have to be somewhere else - diary says so. My friend is locked out of their house, but can't take the spare key cos I'm diaried to be doing something else. Friend needs a lift to the hospital cos she's broken her leg diary says nooooo!!! Doing stuff by diary makes things a whole lot more predictable, less messy, but I reckon an element of relationship can be lost if the diary becomes the be all and end all. People become a slot in the diary, rather than someone to relate to, activities to complete, not people to love.
Same with our approach to church. It can be about set times and events, but Jesus didn't seem to work like that. It was about relationship, about choices of what to do with time in the immediate. When the woman who had been bleeding for lots of years touched Jesus he spent time with her, before going off to heal a girl. About to have a nice rest, crowds followed him and he talked to them instead. His mother asked him to do a miracle at a wedding, and even though not the right time chose to do it for relationship.
Diaries can also make us too busy, cramming things into it to fit as much in as possible, doing everything partly but not fully. End up exhausted, and also feeling like you're not quite doing anything right, and frustrated. Chatting with Charlotte one of my friends while writing this, she points out we can end up filling our diaries doing good things like Martha, easy to forget to spend time being with God, enjoying his company, listening to him speak, like Mary.
David adds...
Diaries. I don't have one, quite funny when I suddenly remember that I should be doing something in 10 minutes, and then have a mega rush to get there vaguely on time :) Reckon a diary can be good, stops the mass panic, the questions over what time I need to be somewhere because I have forgotten, the ringing up the doctors to find out when my appointment is.... But when it dictates what we do and overides the natural response, then it becomes a problem. The person is upset, but I have to be somewhere else - diary says so. My friend is locked out of their house, but can't take the spare key cos I'm diaried to be doing something else. Friend needs a lift to the hospital cos she's broken her leg diary says nooooo!!! Doing stuff by diary makes things a whole lot more predictable, less messy, but I reckon an element of relationship can be lost if the diary becomes the be all and end all. People become a slot in the diary, rather than someone to relate to, activities to complete, not people to love.
Same with our approach to church. It can be about set times and events, but Jesus didn't seem to work like that. It was about relationship, about choices of what to do with time in the immediate. When the woman who had been bleeding for lots of years touched Jesus he spent time with her, before going off to heal a girl. About to have a nice rest, crowds followed him and he talked to them instead. His mother asked him to do a miracle at a wedding, and even though not the right time chose to do it for relationship.
Diaries can also make us too busy, cramming things into it to fit as much in as possible, doing everything partly but not fully. End up exhausted, and also feeling like you're not quite doing anything right, and frustrated. Chatting with Charlotte one of my friends while writing this, she points out we can end up filling our diaries doing good things like Martha, easy to forget to spend time being with God, enjoying his company, listening to him speak, like Mary.
David adds...
I'm back from holiday! Judging by the fact that readership numbers for the blog went up in my absence (thanks Catherine, I'm not jealous, honest), you didn't really miss me! We had a lovely time thanks, partly because we had a week not ruled by a diary. Back to work today though. Monday morning; 9:30 devotions really good - thanks Gail, 10:30 Senior Leadership Meeting - important; 11:00 Pastoral Team catch up - prayerful; 2:00 Meeting with Steve - really helpful..... get the picture? All really good, important, but how different to last week. Time for the spontaneous - 'do you want to come to dinner?' yes please. 'Do you want to join our bowls match?' Indeed I would. 'Simon, do you want to come with our family to Waterworld, since your boring parents don't want to?' Yes please. Space for fun, for friends, for life...
But what about now we're back from holiday? Will the diary take over as tyrant?
No, because we set boundaries, physically and as a principle. First thing we do in the New year is plot into the calendar times of holiday or recreation (for me that includes teaching - it genuinely builds and refreshes me). Each day I make sure some time is set aside for doing creative things (like blog writing) because again, that refuels me. My current role is admin. heavy, so I don't book meetings on a Thursday. At all. I block the day out as 'busy', but don't accept meetings. It's for people - I'm a pastor! When folk say 'heh can we catch up?' I'm free to say, 'yes, how about Thursday?'. I could be busy at meetings every evening, but we don't book more than three evenings a week for appointments. That means most evenings we can spontaneously say 'It's sunny, we're having a bbq, pop over' or our friends can just drop in. Unless it's an emergency (real, not just someone's idea of one), we don't answer the phone during our family meal time. Friday is my day off, I go to the gym then often drop in to church - it's like bunking off school in reverse - I love it, I can just hang out, have a coffee with whoever is around. This isn't a sophisticated way of admitting that I'm lazy, the point is that being diligent does not have to mean being task-oriented or ruled by the diary.
Of course not everyone has such control over their diary during the working day, but most have more than they perhaps think. Lets treat every day as a holy-day, set apart for us and God, us and others.
I like this a lot! Absolutely. It's living free isn't it - choosing wisely what we do with the time we are given, putting relationship with God and with others first.
ReplyDelete