To this point, I have been offering a number of suggestions for ministers and other practitioners, encouraging each to practice peace by ordering their days in ways that privilege rest and maintenance over due dates and important work.
But, what happens when it doesn’t work?
If you are like me, you will engage in the disciplines discussed in “The Five Steps to a Peaceful Ministry Day” series and experience a week or so of success before the fateful, gigantic, and inevitable crash. The crash can be caused by a number of factors, the number one being unexpected, pastoral events. What should you do after you find yourself back in your office exhausted, staring blankly at the computer screen, hoping for your day back?
First, breathe. Since you were keeping up with your maintenance before the crash, you won’t experience it with the severity you might have otherwise. Breathe and remember that it could be worse.
Second, clear thirty minutes on your calendar to write your mind. Pull out a sheet of paper or open your computer screen and write, putting down everything that comes to mind, anything that’s grabbing your attention and causing you stress, keeping at it until that knot in your stomach begins to loosen.
Third, take a walk.
Fourth, go back through each item on the page you wrote, line by line, adding appointments to your calendar (for due items) or items to your to-do list (for important items) until the entire sheet/document is accounted for.
Fifth, wad the paper up and throw it away.
You’re current. Now you will be able to resume your work confidently, knowing that the next crisis, whatever it is, won’t be because you missed something during this one.
