I remember a sound advice we received around the time we got married. I must have also read it in a book. It said to take the time to enjoy one another. Pull away from weekly commitments, especially church ones. Does that sound counterintuitive?
If we can’t take a sabbatical from our jobs, and life itself can’t be put on hold indefinitely, then why church specifically?
Because if you do it (church) right, your heart and passion is in it, and so the demands are exponential. Thus you can get easily pulled every which way, by need, by people, by your heart first and foremost, and like in a tumbler, you may soon find that you can’t distinguish the right side up.
It is a good time to hit reset. To make sure you don’t function out of inertia. That serving has not become an addiction.
“But if I don’t do it, who else will step up to fill in the gap?”
– God will find a way. There is a time for everything. Including rest.
Our first year in Romania was a marathon. A lovely, rich and memorable season. A season to connect and to serve and to live in community. We gave it all in.
The second year was the year of slowing down and sorting priorities. Family. Adoption. Personal relationship. As soon as Jackie joined us it only seemed fitting to begin our family honeymoon. A time to connect, to play, to get to know each other in the new formula. We started pouring our hearts in different ways, in different contexts, in different people. There is a time for everything, and though nostalgia hits us at times, we have no regrets regarding where we’ve been and where we are heading to.
We have pulled away from serving the youth, and we’ve received feedback regarding it, but my heart is at peace. While there was grace and abundance of teaching I hope and pray it was well placed and will give its fruit in time. I will never serve out of guilt.
This particular season feels like a family honeymoon. And may it never end…