It has been a busy week, a busy month, a busy year, and a busy life. But I am not complaining. However, I am doing more to guard my family time, health, and well-being than I have done in the past.
I am taking time each day to be with my family. There have been so many times that I have worked 12 and 14 hour days and my children were in the bed when I left home in the morning and back in bed by the time I arrived home at night. I have always tried to be there as much as possible but now I am making this priority number one. If I have to be at work until late in the evening then I stay home until mid day when possible. I like to cook breakfast for my wife, children, and grandchildren and I try to do that every time it is possible. The fellowship around the table is irreplaceable.
I have been a runner for a number of years and I enjoy it a lot. Many times I will run for a solid month and the schedule will get really complex and the first thing that goes is the exercise. I decided this year not to let that happen and I have been successful for the most part, except for the time during my brothers death. When Keith died I didn’t stop exercising but there were a few weeks that I didn’t have the energy to do anything more than walk to the graveyard and did that every day. I am making it a priority to get out of bed a little earlier now to run most every morning. I have found that if I put it off until the afternoon something else will come along and rob me of that time. If it were not for my running I really don’t think I could handle the stress that I find myself under.
The link below is to an article on the health of clergy or should I say, the bad health. Take a look at it and pray for your pastor or pastors all across the world. I will be the first to say that someone who wanted to have an easy life as a pastor could have that but most of the clergy I know really have been called and work very hard to Shepherd the Flock to which God has called them.
Clergy sacrifice health for flock
Ronnie