Day off...

You know I once heard a guy say "You preachers, you're so lucky. If it's a nice day you can get up, make some coffee , make some calls or do a little studying and if its a bad day you can turn over in your bed and say your prayers." This tells me two things about this person, he knows very little about ministry and even less about prayer.

Through-out my 20 plus years of ministry, I have typically had Monday's off. Monday's are Family Day at the McGrath house. From the beginning we struggled getting that concept into the minds of some of our friends from Church. One guy would, for the longest time, show up at my door in the mid morning and tell me, "I had nothing going on so I thought I just stop in." I appreciated his friendship but his timing had much to be desired. Melany fought hard to guard the short time we had together on Mondays and found him to be intrusive. "Any day but Monday!" she would say.

Over time we set up boundaries and even left the house most of the day to ensure no "drop-ins". But the biggest battle for me, over the years, has not been the outward interruptions but the inward pull of "getting a head-start" on the week. Just this morning I spent a few hours continuing my study for the up coming series on "The 7 signs of the Gospel of John". What I have learned over the years is that for me to be most productive in ministry, I need to learn how to take breaks from ministry. These breaks are good for my marriage, good for my family and good for my soul. But while breaks are necessary, they can't always happen on a Monday because ministry is life.

I suppose that's how Jesus felt- he couldn't even just hang with family and friends at a wedding without being called to action. Perhaps that's why he would regularly get away from the crowds, even when their cries were the loudest, and go to a quiet place. We live in a world marked by "busy".

How do you carve out time to renew, refresh, rejuvenate and reconnect with God?

What say you?