I was driving to church the other day for a series of staff meetings and realized I was excited. There was nothing else I wanted to do! What had changed? For most of my 21 years as senior pastor of NLF, most of the time I went grudgingly, preferring to be home alone in prayer and study. Something clicked spiritually a fourteen months ago: all of life is holy and to be lived in the presence of God. For example, managing, looking over job descriptions, discerning the best use of time, energy and money at NLF, planning, hiring, getting the right people in the right roles is sacred work, very sacred work – as sacred as my Daily Offices and Sabbath. God invited me to take responsibility and lead NLF. I am here. But I resisted this role for almost 20 years. I suspect this is related to bad models, poor teaching and faulty theology, but the bottom line (at least for me), has been my character. I no longer choose the easiest things that fit my gifts and temperment, but the best thing before God (which is often quite difficult) All of life is to be lived out of communion with Him. The following little chart about prayer is what I apply to my daily life. It may help you as you seek to integrate a contemplative life into your active days. I know it has mine.
Prayer =Awareness of the Presence of God All Day Long
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None Less 2 Min 5 Min. 30 Min. 2 Hours Half Day Most of Day Pray Always
(heaven)
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always (lit. with all perseverance) keep on praying for all the saints. Eph. 6:18 Do you think a lot of us as pastors/leaders have this split of sacred/secular in our ministries or was it just me?
