Hello friends!
First and foremost, do yourself a favor if you haven't already and check out the good work my darling wife is doing at our second blog, Twinsanity. I lived through the posts she's already worked on, and I still giggled and learned something about myself! Check it out!
It's occurring to me that tomorrow is my last day of sabbatical. Someone asked me the other day what I had done with my ten weeks off, besides changing diapers and keeping children alive. Really, that's the long and short of it. I realize that I became ultra-lazy. I made a good amount of progress on the book, but it is still unfinished. I had hopes of finishing the landscaping outside our house. Nope. Clean the basement? No way. Write more music? Nope. Basically there's a J sized hole on the couch whenever I can summon the strength to stand up.
Even now, I'm supposed to be finishing up a sermon that needs to be submitted to the committee for ordination. But...that's so much typing. So I had to work up a little blog post to try to get the juices flowing.
Truthfully, I feel kind of guilty for being lazy with all my time off, even though that's exactly what all the time off was meant to be for. I was supposed to rest. I was supposed to relax. I was supposed to get to know my boys. So why is it that I feel guilty having not accomplished many of the things that I set out to accomplish? Part of it I think is that I've been running with my engines so revved up since seminary and work and kids were all happening at the same time, that it just feels weird to idle and cool down. But I think too I worry that other people will wonder what I'm doing with my life if I'm just super lazy with my time that was intended to be super lazy. I worry what you all will think of me.
I am in fact really excited to get back to work. I am really pumped to see what kind of trouble I can get in to when all I have to focus on is youth ministry, when that's where all my attention goes. But I hope that you and I both can kill this side of us what needs other people to think we're accomplishing things. I was given something that I haven't had since I was in 11th grade, a summer of freedom to relax and recharge. I hope that I can stop feeling guilty about using it for exactly what it was for, and rejoice in the fact that I'm ready to head back on Sunday fully charged and ready to go. And I hope that you don't feel the guilt that I do around your precious time off, whenever it happens. Are you free this weekend? Enjoy your family! Do you get an hour for lunch at work? Take every second of it for you, and don't look back. Sure, work and get stuff done. But remember that one of the 10 big commandments God laid down for us was to rest and relax, at least one day a week.
So that said, I'm going to sip coffee, kick back, and relax for the last 36 hours or so I have left. And by the by, if you're not doing anything on Sunday, please come to the Bridge at 9:45. I miss you all!