Work Covenant

A few weeks ago all of our leadership working across Africa were together in one place. One of us raised the issue of the seemingly impossible workload and how we could manage that and remain healthy and sane. 

Ironically, we decided to have an extra meeting after dinner to talk about it, but it was a good talk with people sharing what works for them and their frustrations in general. We agreed to work together on it. A few people said they would work up a sort of covenant to guide us.

This made me think of the “Leader’s Covenant” that Dr. Larrie Gardner (SIL Intl) wrote up several years ago (pasted in at the bottom). I pulled it up and inspired by it, I added a section on healthy work habits, working on what we had said as a group but also reflections drawn from my sabbatical and career counseling and coaching.  

I am coming up on a big work change, and am currently in-between job assignments. I move in a few weeks to a new location and am hoping I can use the new environment and job as a chance to make a fresh start at doing this RIGHT. (Hold me to it, will you?)

Leadership Covenant work habits

(Tim Tillinghast)

With God’s help, I recognize that the work is the Lord’s to accomplish, not mine. I will, therefore, seek to honor God in the way I work, not taking on more work than is healthy nor modeling incorrect work habits to those under me, thus creating unrealistic expectations.  I will not seek my significance in the work assigned to me. 

• I will keep a Biblical Sabbath, realizing my work will never be done.
• I will set additional boundaries around my time as needed, communicate those with my colleagues and not feel guilty about keeping  to those.
• I will not take work home with me, either physically or in my mind, so as to be fully available to those closest to me and to myself.
• I will seek to delegate to others, especially in my areas of weakness.
• I will not be afraid to say “no” when necessary.
• I will communicate to my supervisor if I feel like I have too much to do or if a deadline is unworkable and seek ways to adjust that. I will proactively seek to help those who report to me manage their workload.

I acknowledge that creating balance in my life allows me the reflective and restorative times necessary to fully leverage my strengths for the good of the group in the ways that God created me to. And that not doing this is actually detrimental to the work, the group and myself in the long run.

Leader’s Covenant

 (Source -  Larrie Gardner)

With God’s help, I will not use my position, title or authority to intimidate others or promote myself. I will use these to build others. 

With God’s help I will not pretend to know more or less than I do. I will ask for help when I need it and give credit. I will demonstrate an attitude of continual learning and growth.

With God’s help, I will be faithful to my spouse in body, mind, emotions and thought. I will maintain friends through openness, reciprocity, mutual support and genuine encouragement.

With the help of the Lord, I will strive to maintain a thought life that is wholesome and could be published without embarrassment. I will strive to be honest in my view of myself and others. I will choose to fill my mind with positive goodness; my default will be one of good will and trust in God., rather than mistrust, cynicism and suspicion. Trust begets trust.

A visit to the Monastery, l'Abbayé Port du Salut

Ever since I first contemplated a time of sabbatical back in late 2009, I had thought of staying in a Trappist monastery somewhere. Well, during my vacation in France, from May 18-22, 2012, I had the privilege of staying at l’Abbayé Port du Salut, founded in the 13^th century.

Abbayé Port du Salut (Salvation Port - It's on the Mayenne river)

I was taken first to the refectoire, a small dining area where between 4 and 8 of us took our meals. I felt very much the anthropology student, trying to make sense of a new world as an outsider. For example, it was only after eating did I realize that the 2 women that appeared to be nuns, were indeed nuns, but also guests at the abbey, too, staying on a different floor of the hotellerie than where I was. 

The guest quarters (built sometime in the 1900s)

After a meal of several courses, I was taken by brother Alexandre, tall and lean with a grey goatee, to the guest area and my room which overlooks the courtyard and the main chapel. It’s fairly simple as rooms go, but not a far cry from many I’ve stayed in at SIL guesthouses. I have my own sink, but the toilet and showers are down the hall. 

I expected there to be more community with the monks, but they live and work in their cloister which is off-limits to guests, who also eat separately from the monks. But you do see the monks – one brings us the food. And there are others in the bookstore, reception. And you see them in action during the “offices” (worship time).

Across the river from the Abbey

There is, however, good fellowship with the other guests. Monasteries have the traditional function of welcoming guests and so there is a constant rotation of them. This also provides income. During my stay, there have been 3 nuns, at two or three couples, a group of priests here for day retreat, and at least 2 SDF (Sans-domicile-Fixe – homeless) for whom place is provided along with food. One said he had been on a pilgrimage all over Spain and Italy and knew all the monasteries. 

Sister Yvette was around the entire time I was. She is a nun in another town, working with 2 other nuns (at 70 she is the YOUNGEST of the three). They are living in an inner-city area among a whole host of internationals: Eastern Europe, Turkey, Former Soviet Union, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, China, North Africa and Subsaharan Africa. Their ministry is to just be there among these people, helping where they can and showing love. She also served for 5 years in Cote d’Ivoire back in the early 70s. 

Soeur Yvette

We weren’t really supposed to talk much during mealtimes, so often we would sit in silence – and sometimes there was a recording playing with a monk somewhere reading the lives of the saints, or the rule of Saint Benedict, or something else,  but Yvette seemed to be the one to break the silence, especially after meals. She was interested in what was happening in Mali and others seemed to be as well. She also had a lot of genuine questions that seemed to come to mind about how we protestants did things: “You don’t have saints, do you? Well, I guess you probably have saintly people you just don’t call them that.” “Do you pray the psalms?” “Do you say the “Our Father”?” “What about Jehovah’s Witnesses? How do you consider them?”  

Chapel (l) and dining room, (door on far right)

Thankfully, Yvette took the effort to show me what to do in the services or else I would have been lost. She showed me where to find the sheets at the back of the chapel that I would need for the service and how to use the Psalter to find the Psalms, Old Testament and New Testament songs that we would be chanting.  

Worship times: If you’re going to come to a monastery for a personal retreat, this is what it is all about.  I originally set reminders on my phone so as not to miss all of them but realized they have a bell tower to remind you and are pretty vigorous about it. The daily services (offices) are:

• 4:30 a.m. Vigiles – have to say I never made it to one of these. It’s all well and good if you go to bed at 8 or 9 like the monks do.
• 7:15 a.m.  Laudes followed by Eucharist (Communion), though on Saturday and Sunday, this happens around 11 a.m
• 12:10 pm  - Sexte (followed by lunch)
•  6 pm Vespers
• 6:45 supper 
•  7:45 Compiles

I have to say that I really enjoyed the services once I figured out how they worked at least so that I was on target about 2/3 of the time with sitting, standing, finding the right song, and figuring out the unwritten bits to repeat in between songs, after prayers, etc. 

The monks – there are only 9 remaining – sit in the middle section of the church, half on the left and half facing them on the right. One of them on each side has a microphone. The far end of the chapel has a big altar and a crucifix, and a candle that must be 4 feet tall. It is the week after ascension, so the crucifix is draped in white linen, representing the resurrection and ascension. 

Altar and Crucifix, draped for Ascension 

The other participants sit in the rows at the near end of the church. There are half-a dozen guests staying in the monastery, except on Sunday when the place was full and on Monday when about 100 school-kids showed up for a tour. 

The Monk Alexandre who is also the guesthouse guy, usually leads out on the first of several psalms that are chanted. Their psalter has all of 150 psalms, retranslated to fit in a meter that can be  chanted. They are arranged in couplets so that one side of the chapel chants one couplet and the other side chants the other back and forth. It took me a while to realize that the lines are written with one syllable underlined. This indicates that everything before that is chanted high, and then at the underlining, you drop down, either going back up or further down before the end of the line.

There are usually 3 psalms, and the one old testament song and a new testament song – all chanted. At the end of each song, if you are not already standing, you stand and bow and sing “to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, from age to age, . .. AMEN.” (with a few variations). 

There seems to be a song that has to do with the liturgical year that is sung at every service, but just for a week or so.

And there is usually at least one scripture reading, followed by a long period of silence, which in an old stone chapel is REALLY quiet. And they don’t dilly around with a minute of silence like we do and then crank the music up before people can get around to any contemplation. This might go on 5-8 minutes. At times, you think they might have gone to sleep. Then things start up again winding down with the Lord’s prayer (sung) and more silence.

There was only ONE sermon and that was in the Sunday mass, but it is not as if the scripture is missing since all that you sing is straight scripture.  When there is prayer, it is much more structured than I like, with the monk leading out several short prayers like  “We pray for all those staying with us tonight” and the congregants repeating something like “Lord, hear our prayer”.

All in all, the rhythm of the services is nice, with plenty of time for reflection during the psalms and quiet times.  One can appreciate these men who have basically given their lives to praying and meditating on scripture 6 times a day, creating a sacred space in their communities.

I had a bit more connection than I might have had with this group because of the Abbe, Père Joseph who was a catholic missionary (Pere Blanc) in Mali from the 1971-1991 in dogon country. I found this out reading his bio before I emailed about staying here. He reminded me a lot of Rene Valette, for those who know him, a very kind grandfatherly man who took a lot of interest in everyone. He came around the first morning to chat about Mali, catch up on the situation there, and see how I was doing. And when he realized I was freezing, he brought me first his coat and then a sweater. And finally he asked me to speak to their chapter meeting on Monday evening, which was fun because I got to go back into the cloister and see the monks out of their public setting. They were quite interested in the work in Mali and also determined to pray for the situation there.

hydroelectric plant on the river next to the abbey

I hope the Abbey can sustain itself into the next generation and beyond. They have a lot of buildings dating back centuries, and only 9 monks remaining. Most are past the age they can do much real work, there are one or two Novices, who are not really all that young. The Abbey used to have a cheese making industry with their own cows and land. This was sold off 30 years ago (and still operates next door). They have a commanding position on the river and there is a dam and small hydroelectric plant operated  by the monastery. Guests provide some income. And there is a gift shop with books and items produced by other abbeys that they sell.

 The 4^th grade glass that came to tour the abbey and sit in on a service did not seem to really “get it”. When they time of silence came, it was obvious they had NO clue what to do with themselves. They were more respectful than a group of American kids might have been. I didn’t see any cellphone or texting, but there was plenty of whispering. At lunch that day, the other guests and I got into a conversation about the need for silence and contemplation, especially in our busy world of many distractions. Several said that they had had experience taking kids and getting them to have 2 minutes of silence. Then the next day 4. Then 6. Then 8. And that they liked it. Apparently people who are not religious at all, come here to get away from the noise. So maybe there is hope for this sort of place in the future.

En attendant, I will savor the memories of chanted psalms and quiet reflections but also look forward to worship next week somewhere with a guitar, drums, keyboard, maybe some clapping and hands raised.

It was the Worst of Times --> It was the Best of Times!

I just celebrated my birthday on Saturday. Friday night I was sitting in a concert with friends listening to their sons and others play music and got to thinking about the year that had passed from June 2010 to June 2011 and I realized what a great year it had been. 

The backdrop was the year before that - one of the hardest years of my life, following on some other hard ones. Dry, duty-bound times full of “Martha work” and not “Mary joy”. Dragging in at 7:30 or 8 p.m. each night thinking not uncommonly how I hated my job. Yes, there were bright spots – mountain biking, moments of celebration in our work, visits from friends, Single’s Bible studies.

But if I wasn’t burned out by the spring of 2010, I was certainly on a downward trajectory. When my regional director suggested a sabbatical for my upcoming home-assignment, it was like a window had been opened, with light shining in but for some time in a few months. I envisioned a “rebooting” of my spiritual life. (Hey, if they can reboot “Star Trek” and “Batman”, why not? Seems like a great modern metaphor).

In spring 2010, I started planning a sabbatical: books to read, verses to learn, disciplines to follow ONCE I got away from it all in June 2010. However, God’s plan was different – and better. Two different colleagues were prevented from returning to Mali in June last year and so I had to delay my furlough. When news of this came, I was disappointed, but like Homer Simpson, was slapped around by the Epipha-tree: Why do I have to wait to do those things? Why can’t I start doing them here in now in Mali. I did and God honored that.

In June 2010, I decided to go ahead and take the trip to N. Ireland that was to have begun my furlough. There the window began cracking open wider. The guy at the retreat center encouraged me to just ride the bike out along the cliffs and sea and NOT take books with me to read.  Just see what God might have to say. Very freeing for a protestant work-ethic bound person who felt the need to have something constructive planned all the time. I was also challenged to be serious about Sabbath rest and that flowered into a time of delight and rest that began wonderful transformation in the fall of 2010. Ask my friends and colleagues.

Perhaps I could have learned that lesson in the US on a proper sabbatical time, but it made a lot more sense couched in the weekly cycle of work (6 days) and sanctification of Sabbath time (7th day). It’s hard to “give up work” when you are on a time of sabbatical when you have no structured work duties. Not unlike starting a diet when you are already doing Lent.

Flash forward to February 2011 – home to the US. Sabbatical time begins formally in March. Lots of making space for God to speak in whatever way he might choose: reading in coffee houses, listening to music, visiting museums, walking through parks and cemeteries, meeting new friends, living in community, writing and blogging, cycling, cycling, cycling, Cycling across Oklahoma – call it a quest or pilgrimage but it was icing on the cake.

There was a stripping away of many of the extra things that we so often use to anchor us: familiar places and people, TV, work, regular internet connection, constant surroundings. And guess what? When you clear those things away, it’s easier to hear God speak. 

It’s been a time of God lavishing his love on me as His adopted son. It took me a while realize that this thing I couldn’t put a name on was what they call “Grace.” As I was writing this, as has happened so often, a song came on my computer that seemed hand-picked: 

This is what it’s like to be loved. This is what it’s like to be forgiven. This is what it feels like to be alive. To be living in a way that you don’t have to fear being zapped by God ‘cause you don’t measure up. After all. . . . that’s the point.
Charlie Peacock, That’s the Point, 1996

There was also healing (see blog post “unexpected tears”) and tears and grieving for those hard things of the past years. Someone said the tears are like vomiting – not pleasant when it happens, but you sure do feel better afterwards. And I can say that as I go back and review those things now, the scars are there but the soreness is drained out.

So as I was thinking of this past year, June 2010 in Ireland to June 2011, I can say it is probably the best year of my life. A great time of God following after me, pursuing me, bring me back home, rebooting me. Life 2.0 – that may be a bit extreme, but that is how it feels.

I went to sleep with this on my mind and woke up on my birthday. The Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals Liturgy for that day had a reading from Ezekiel 34:16 that was a great birthday present:
I (the Good Shepherd) will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak.

Everything I know about Life, I learned Training for the Freewheel - Part II

Continued from yesterday’s musings about training for endurance events, in this case my bike ride across the Great State of Oklahoma, specifically what you can learn for living successfully in an “endurance” sort of role.

KNOWING THE ROUTE AND BEING PREPARED:

When planning for a bike ride, there are some things you can count on. Look at the race route and you will see hills, newly paved roads versus old country lanes. You can’t just hope that those difficulties will not be there when you get to them. So train for hills. When plan out how far you will be going on a certain day, make allowance for the slower speed caused by big hills.

If your group is planning some days that are 80 miles long, don’t be surprised when they are actually that long! Ride some long rides, ration your strength on those days.

Likewise, in our work, we know there are seasons that will be more intense each year: budget time, board meetings, training events, whatever.  We shouldn’t be surprised by them.

PLAN FOR UNSCHEDULED THINGS:

The hills you can plan for.  But there are other factors you don’t know in advance:  Sometimes it will be raining. And sometimes you will get a flat tire. And unless you are in the Tour de France, where someone just sweeps in and switches your tire in 2 seconds, you will have to stop. And then there is

THE WIND:

The wind is what can so radically change an easy course into a hard one, without notice. Sometimes you are out riding and exalting in how fast you are going. Then you turn around to come home and realize the wind has been at your back and is now in your face!

It truly is a wild card, especially in Oklahoma, “where the wind comes sweeping down the plain”. They didn’t include that line in the song just because it rhymes nicely. It’s TRUE.

Yesterday, I was out for a ride with a friend and we chose to alter our course to cut across the wind, since the prevailing wind was one of those winds where you think you could actually WALK faster than biking. Unfortunately, in life, you can’t often change your course. And you can’t always assume you will have the wind at your back. Sometimes it is full in your face.

In life’s journey, the wind in your face represents the “opposition from sinful men” that causes you to grow “weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:3) Likewise, it is the spiritual opposition that we do not see but certainly feel.

I think we also can extend the metaphor to include the wind at our backs which is the strength of the Spirit and the prayers of the saints. We need those and are so often unaware of them when they are there pushing us along.

STOP IN THE SHADE

On the long rides, when the sun is beating down and sweat pouring down from under the sweatband into your eyes, you will need to stop to rest. These may be scheduled “gatorade, cookie and fruit stops” on an organized ride (compare with an organized  retreat) but also might be just an unscheduled stop under a nice shady tree for whatever snacks you have brought along.

A rider might make the mistake of hitting the 10-mile rest stop and thinking, “I’m doing fine and feel strong, I’ll just go on and hit the next one.” But eventually he will wear himself out sooner than those who stopped and got refueled.

I remember my first furlough working at our headquarters in Dallas for 3 months or so. They had a “spiritual emphasis week” and I didn’t feel free somehow to “not work” that week and so I skipped the retreat. What was I thinking?

CROSS-TRAINING, STRENGTHENING YOUR CORE

Cross-training has for some time been all the rage in sports. It means simply that if you are training for one sport, you should also do exercises from other disciplines to strengthen the muscles that are secondary for your sport. A runner might do some swimming, and a gymnast might run and lift weights. Why? Because those muscles provide strength and stability to the primary ones you are using.

You will hear a lot of talk these days about “strengthening your core”. Your CORE is made up of the abdominal muscles, hip muscles and lower back muscles that stabilize your spine, and keep you upright.

All this to say that for a cyclist, it’s not just about your legs!

I’ve been doing a lot of core exercise to strengthen my abs and lower back which will keep me from having a sore back on the ride and also help with balance. I’m also working on my arms and shoulders which take a lot of punishment holding on to handlebars.

So how does the metaphor extend to life? We obviously need to keep strong spiritual disciplines to endure in a stressful job. But ‘cross-training for life” would mean also staying disciplined in other areas: diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, good relationships with friends and family. These things will give us the endurance to keep "stablized" when we really hit a rough patch. 

Ministry-wise, I think this would include being involved in some activities outside your main ministry and also working on developing spiritual gifts in areas that are not your primary one.

TOMORROW: Part III: Nutrition, Fuel, Hydration and stretching!

Be Still, My soul (a poem)

It's been a long while since I wrote a poem. I am working on journaling as a way to grow spiritually, interact with ideas, and "craft my soul". This incorporates ideas from a sermon I listened to on Ecclesiastes 4:5-6 (that mentioned Matthew 3:16), and a devotional reading that referenced Psalm 23.

 

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul.

Let my self with its need for attention, distraction and connectedness

Melt into the background

Like hard wax becoming molten in the presence of your flame.

Be still, my soul,

Relax the hand that grasps

Into an open hand

From which my empty trinkets can be taken

And into which blessings dropped easily.

Be still, my soul.

Defrag my mind.

Untether me from the machine,

Unsynch me from calendars and contacts

Log me off of status updates seeking friends’ likes.

Be still, my soul.

Let me rest like Jesus

With whom You were ‘well-pleased’ before his ministry started,

Who acted out of that acceptance rather than trying to earn it,

Who was content to do ONLY what You had showed Him to do,

Not taking on himself everything that others had left undone.

Open up, hand!

Breathe out self’s preoccupations -

Breathe in Spirit’s life.

Safe pastures,

Still waters,

HE restores my soul.

Be still, my soul

Can’t grab the living water

Or quantify it, test its purity.

Let it flow over my open hand, where it will.

Be still, beside still waters.

Kansas City Boiler Room - part 1

After a great time in Sherman, TX with friends Charles and Laurie Hilliard, I headed north on Thursday morning for an 8-hour drive to Kansas City, Missouri. (I keep thinking I am in Kansas).


This is the Kansas City Boiler Room building in an older part of downtown.

The building next door is empty and badly in need of someone to take it on and redo it for housing for something other than pigeons. There were LOTS of them flying in and out of the windows when I went up on the roof. 

The community uses part of the ground floor for church services (as does a West African church that meets in their space). The second floor houses living space for some guys, some offices, a music studio (next to my room), a prayer room, and a common kitchen and living area.

Upstairs on the 4th floor are several art studios and living space for a few women.
I've always thought it would be fun to live in a loft, but I think I pictured more the really cool high-end ones you see in the movies. This one is a bit more basic - and cold. Lows in the 30s and highs in the 40s this week! I was surprised.
But then, hey, I was originally planning to sabbatical in a trappist monastery.

Above is part of the prayer room which is the namesake - the boiler room that gives heat to the rest of the building.

So far I have met most of the folks here. All of them very friendly and with that passion you have in your twenties to change the world. (Where does THAT go?) They are all "honored" to have me which makes me a bit embarrassed but also it is nice.

So far I am wondering a bit what to do with this time. Yes, I know, make space for God to speak to me. Be quiet.  Fit into the community.

Dayn, who has kind of been the one to show me around, shared a nice verse with me today which fits in so nicely with my theme verse - in fact, it just seems like a paraphrase of it, right down to man's rejection of God's rest (see yesterday's post).

The verse is Isaiah 30:15:

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.
But you would have none of it."

Thanks, Dayn.

a Sermon right between the eyes!

I am sure you have had the experience of hearing a message and feeling that the pastor was preaching it JUST for you and for no one else.  Oddly enough, this last Sunday was my last week at Hope Church in Ft. Worth and the regular pastor was called away due to a death in his family. So this was not the message that would normally have been preached last Sunday, but one the assistant pastor, Christian Williams, presumably decided to preach when he found out on Thursday he would be preaching.

Okay, so the sermon was on REST. It was no coincidence that this came up the week I was about to set out on the first major segment of my sabbatical. The teaching was a total resume of everything God has taught me so far and an extra kick to it.  It seems that God works things into our lives in a cyclical fashion - like a spiral getting more focused as we are able to take in the next bit.

One of the key verses Christian suggested we memorize was Psalm 127:1-2.
I said to myself, "Oh, I know this verse. Learned it last year. I even learned the second phrase that most people don't learn". But then I realized I had only learned verse 1:

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless.
Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.

and had focused on it more from the need to commit our plans to the Lord, especially with regards to contingency and crisis management, a very relevant topic to us in our work. 

I had missed verse 2 which was new for me. It totally recasts it:  

2 It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

Suddenly it is not only about "trusting God and his sovereignty" but about not trying to do everything ourselves because we rest in his sovereignty. 

Christian went on to say that REST is good, the Sabbath rest God gave us at creation. And it is obtainable as it is promised several places.  Mark 2.27, Hebrews 4.7-11

So why do we not enter into the promised rest? 

Christian said we need to resist the enemies of rest which are Laziness (no big problem for me) and Self-reliance (zinger - right between the eyes). Then he quoted the verse at the top of my blog: Jeremiah 6:16, a verse that keeps coming up everywhere I look.

This is what the Lord says:
“Stop at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it.
Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.
But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’

I left the last bit off of my blog header, for obvious reasons, but it really summarizes the problem: self-reliance.  When we don't trust God to take care of things, then the result is overwork.



We need to pursue a rest that restores rather than robs us. Zoning out in front of the TV or surfing the internet may appear like rest but it robs us of deeper forms of quality rest.
A lack of planning is often the problem. We need to plan so that I have time to rest. 


George Meuhler said, "The stops of a good man, as well as his steps are ordered by the Lord" (cf. Psa. 37:23). 
 
Hey, this is what I was learning in my coaching in Dallas just last week. you have to plan in the times of reflection and rest and delegation, in order to fully do all the things God wants you to be. 

Christian says that test that restores includes

• sleep - DUH! But we should organize our time to get the sleep we need and cut out things that prevent us from getting it.
• Sabbath  - a time to be with God and his people.
• celebration - this includes what others have called "delight"
• salvation in Jesus. Matt 11.28-30

There's lots here for me to chew on. and hopefully get better at.

Coaching in Dallas -Leveraging strengths, dodging shadows.

I have been in Dallas since March 3rd, and a good deal of that time has been in coaching sessions in our leadership training department. I should specify that I am being coached and not the one giving the coaching.

This has been a really beneficial time for me and God has been reinforcing things he started teaching me last year in N. Ireland. It's odd how the lessons keep coming around cyclically, deeper each time until you get them.

In N. Ireland, the Corrymeela folks spoke of finding a "well of healing" - a place that we could go to draw strength for ourselves allowing us to then draw out or provide healing for others. In reflecting on scripture, I learned that I needed to sit at Jesus' feet like Mary did and like Ps 27 says.I started on a journey of keeping Sabbath (more on that in another blogpost).

Here I learned a similar lesson: God has given me strengths and abilities that I can use to serve others and specifically advance the work in Mali.  One of my strengths also has a "shadow" or flip side: my strong responsibility  drive, coupled with my strong beliefs in the importance of the work, push me to work too much work to accomplish what needs to be done in a difficult setting.

To compensate for this, I need to make time for rest and reflective time and prayer, and time to think about the non-urgent but important things like strategy and effective delegation. Making that time will allow me to better leverage my strengths and increase my ability to serve others and actually energize me rather than sapping my strength. This will help me do and be what God created to be.

I also have the adaptability strength which means I live in the here and now and tend to be drawn to whatever is right in front of me. So I respond instantly to whatever comes through the door or into the mailbox. This may make me a good multi-tasker, but also means I do not take the time to prioritize or reflect and so work less efficiently.

I need to guard this reflective time as a holy sanctum. I should "write myself a prescription" to take this time that I need, and be so serious about it, that if urgent events force me to miss it, I "make it up double".

Some of the things that energize me are: 

• Cycling
• Analyzing and organizing information
• Being creative (art, music, design/layout/color)
• Language learning
• Being alone in nature
• Music (listening to and playing)
• Downtime
• Reading
• personal retreats - whether that be in N. Ireland, Abbé David or Selingué in Mali. . .

I have learned a lot about my strengths from the Strengths finder test. But also looked at other inventories: Myers Briggs, Belbin Team roles, communication styles. It's been an enlightening process.

It is odd that in Christian circles we tend to be so focused on humility that we rarely focus on what our God-given strengths are and affirm them, reflecting on how best to use them. Why are we embarrased to say "God gave me gifts in this area?" After all, 1 Peter4:10  says, "Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms".
The idea of finding healthy ways of working so as to leverage my stengths and those of my team to better accomplish God's work - well, that is just exciting.

We have worked up a growth plan help me with some of these things. I am anxious to put it in practice when I get to Mali.I will be asking some of you who are closer to me there to keep me accountable! Do feel free to ask me how it is going when November rolls around.