Some thoughts for my Pastor type friends, especially. You’ve got an important message to communicate, but does it ever feel like no one’s listening?
I write a lot of fairly serious stuff that I think is really important. Like – life or death forever important. I hope to help people see and engage some potential God has put within them that they may not have realized was even there. I love it when I get to see this happen.
But, in a life full of a constant stream of information, I know my stuff is not always an easy read and my lesser self tells the rest of me that it’s easy to ignore. That I’m easy to ignore. No one’s listening, so why bother… I have ample evidence to make this case, and yet I keep tilting at the windmill, hoping to spark something in you that God will use for His glory and someone else’s benefit.
But a couple days ago, I posted something that was anything but serious, definitely not meaningful, and at face value of little redeeming quality. It was a flippant comment about the food I was eating. It was this:
Just a dorky comment about cereal, but between Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, (where I also post all the other more serious stuff) I had about 50 times more interaction about my cereal that anything else I’ve posted lately. It was a good reminder of a few things:
Many people aren’t as interested in public discussion about matters of faith and church and spiritual growth as I might be. I’m a church nerd all the way through and I don’t mean to back away from that at all, but “everyone eats.” As we pastor from a distance right now, we need to make sure to maintain common ground and not get lost inside our own thoughts so deeply that we begin to disconnect from the people we serve.
Maybe this one’s just me, but it’s easy to start to take ourselves (and everything else) too seriously. There is room in your life for a goofy food post once in a while, or a stupid meme you found funny, or maybe even that horrible dad joke that makes you laugh way too hard when no one’s looking.
Pastor friends – I know your work load is crazy right now and you’re having to learn new ways to communicate and gain new skills to do it. You’re helping lead churches full of people facing fear and uncertainty looking to you to know what to do. They need to see your faith and confidence and character that grabs a mop and leads through the mess.
But don’t forget to be a person. Often, connections are forged in the trivial moments we share every day with each other as much as in the deep, meaningful, momentous occasions that come along once in a while.
Take a breath…
Take another…
Relax… He’s got you.
Have some Cookie Crisp.