Holiday joy

A few days ago I posted about the problem some people have with depression around the holidays.  This can also be a problem for church leaders.  As pastors and other church leaders there are always additional pressures around the holiday season.  Often, there are additional church dinners which makes healthy eating a challenge.  There may be special programs that require additional rehearsals and more time from the leaders.  Trying to meet the special needs of the people I mentioned in the earlier post can present challenges.  Added to all the extra demands on the leaders around the holidays, there are also the extra family needs.  Christmas presents need to be purchased and family times planned.  The holidays are stressful enough on a family without seeing the pastor parent have to leave a holiday dinner or family gathering early because of a church emergency.

I want to encourage you to build some margin in your life this holiday season.  Not all emergencies are truly emergencies.  You may need to say no to some request during the holidays in order to have more time to spend with your family.  Eliminate unnecessary committee meetings during the month of December.  (Your committee members will appreciate this as well.)  Spend less time in the church office and be harder to reach on your cell phone.  After all, there are a lot of dead zones out there!  Your church continues to need your leadership, but your family needs you for the holidays as well, so find a good balance.  If I was going to err, I would want to err on the side of spending extra time with family.  After all, twenty years from now the church will probably refer to you as "Pastor What-was-his-name?"  Twenty years from now you will want your family to still have wonderful memories of those special Christmas moments you created over the years. To me, that is still the truest ministry of all.