a good/difficult conversation

A friend and fellow youth worker just left the house. He stopped by tonight to get my perspective on a couple of issues that we are working through in our ministry.

The first is the area of focus/busyness/margins in life. I've been working on my life/schedule to try to reclaim some time for family and fun. For many years now it seems like I've been on the run from one task to the next appointment to the next meeting, leaving little room to breathe. I freely admit that I like to be busy, want to be wanted, and need to be needed. I have squeezed a lot of stuff into my life. Scott Welliver tells me that in media work, that's called a "bleeding margin," and I can feel the bleed.

All too often, we make people busy, weigh them down with meetings and tasks, when what they really need is space. Without time to rest, reflect, and renew, we end up running on fumes. All of us need time and space simply to BE.

My advice to my friend is to slow down, strip away some of the non-essentials, and get more out of his time by doing less. That's my advice to myself, as well.

The second area is a bit more complex, and I think I'll save those thoughts for another day.