Ever been so crazy and overwhelmed that you feel like important stuff is slipping through the cracks? You're not alone. Everyone experiences this busyness that sort of consumes all your time. In Children's ministries it usually manifests in preparations for the next big event. Just about the time you finish one big event you're gearing up for the next one. Kids camps, community outreaches, parties, musicals, VBS, building repair, etc. God commands rest before work. It's not a request. We are not built to live in panic mode. There have to be times when you say, "No, I can't do that." Sometimes it means giving control of the project or a portion of the project to someone else. Sometimes it means doing less projects and turning some options down. But you need times between events and projects where you can slide into a simple routine and give yourself and your church members a respite to simply enjoy business as usual, catch up on smaller details that may have slipped through the cracks and you can get that much needed mental rest and spend time with your family and friends during your off hours. That's when you get to do what I call riding the seasons.
Riding the seasons means that you have to prepare yourself mentally for the hours and exhaustion of Musical season but you reward yourself and your loved ones by enjoying the season of rest to follow. Your family and friends know ahead of time that when your in Kids Camp mode, there's going to be two weeks that you're just out of commission. They have to understand that for a brief season you will be spending less time with them and more time focusing on a large-scale project. Then when the event concludes you need to spend a little less time at church and ride a season of quality time resting with your loved ones to make up for the time you lost and the time you'll be losing again when the next busy season hits. The key is to collectively accept seasons of busy, but never live perpetually in panic mode. You and your church need to understand that you need seasons of rest too. Accept seasons of busy and ride the waves to the seasons of rest you intentionally work into your calendar.
Riding the seasons means that you have to prepare yourself mentally for the hours and exhaustion of Musical season but you reward yourself and your loved ones by enjoying the season of rest to follow. Your family and friends know ahead of time that when your in Kids Camp mode, there's going to be two weeks that you're just out of commission. They have to understand that for a brief season you will be spending less time with them and more time focusing on a large-scale project. Then when the event concludes you need to spend a little less time at church and ride a season of quality time resting with your loved ones to make up for the time you lost and the time you'll be losing again when the next busy season hits. The key is to collectively accept seasons of busy, but never live perpetually in panic mode. You and your church need to understand that you need seasons of rest too. Accept seasons of busy and ride the waves to the seasons of rest you intentionally work into your calendar.
