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To your own self, be generous

A spring schedule of almost nonstop consulting has been good for my business, but not so much for my soul. Which likely explains why a blog post by Salvation Army Commissioner Nancy Roberts hit me straight in the heart. 

Although directed to Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy, her words apply to women (and men) called to the ministry of fundraising (and consulting about it) as surely as to those serving in a parish setting.  

Knowing that spiritual leadership always brings some downs, along with the ups, one needs those moments and times in their lives that they can lean back on remembering the refreshing times when God was close, when God spoke clearly and ministered to the soul. . . As Christian women, we like anyone else, need times for our souls to be refreshed and restored.  We need time to meet with friends – sisters in Christ – who walk similar paths and face similar frustrations and disappointments.  And these times need to be frequently planned into our busy schedules.

We find ourselves giving out and giving out, often forgetting to take in what we need for our own nourishment.  Daily routines, relationships, and responsibilities are ours as pastors/ministers and for many of us as wives and mothers also.   Am I allowing sufficient time needed daily, weekly, and even monthly for God to minister to my needs so that I am fully ready to minister to other’s in His name and for His sake? Our souls must come first…. (my soul must come first)….then service/work/duties/assignments can follow.

Commissioner Roberts’ advice reminds me of something Thom Jeavons and I wrote in Growing Givers’ Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry.

For those who view the work of fundraising as a ministry, it is just as important to give attention to spiritual fitness as to one’s physical or professional condition. It is crucial, both for the future health of the organization’s they serve and for their personal well-being. The central tasks of loving God, caring for family, and advancing the mission of the institution call us to occasionally say no, to build a rhythm into our lives that won’t be there unless we build it.

In other words, being generous with ourselves by making room for soul time, matters.