Rest - the importance of priorities...and of home!

It’s important to set priorities or other things will swamp you.

Deb and I did this with regard to our home life. In a real desire to understand the pressures on her, I asked Deb what took so much of her time at home. ‘The washing’ she said. ‘I have to pick it all up from the bedroom floors, put it into the basket, wash it all, dry and iron it and put it all back so that the whole process can begin again.’ Anyone relating to this, guys? As we were on holiday when we did this review, I had spare capacity and time to think about this! I nearly made a spreadsheet to track what’s happening, recruiting the boys to do their bit, streamlining the process … But then I got it! I want my wife not to be tired and to be available when I come home and the decision to employ some help in the house as a result of that review was a positive thing.

Now I know not all of you are in a position to be able to do that, but the process still holds. Life moves so fast sometimes that you have to reposition the priorities where they should be. It’s no good thinking that things will calm down soon – experience shows that’s not true!

This brings me to another important point. Home must be a place of rest. If home is not a place of rest in Christian ministry then things are going to be really hard. I have observed, just from my own life and those of my team members, that in times when a family member is sick, times of demand that result in lack of sleep, dealing with elderly parents, to name but a few – all these issues put into a context of a demanding ministry – these can destabilise a home. They can come out of the blue and rob us of any refreshment we might have found in our homes previously.