This conversation with
Sam was an incredibly valuable one. Sam
and I talked about the fact that we have spent an accumulated amount of so many
hours together and talked through what we have both gotten out of that
time. Sam used this as a platform to
basically preach to me, and it was something that I needed to hear. Sam told me about the value of time, and told
me that it really is the most valuable resource, and he did not know its value
until he was already married with kids, short on time. He then asked me how often I say “no” to
things, and that he thinks I spread myself out too thin. Sam was able to catch a glimpse at arguably
my biggest downfall, being a “yes man” and not being able to say “no” to things
that are not worth my time, or are things that I do not need to do.
Again, as I thought
more about Sam’s words, I realized that my desire to be in control and able to
do everything, that I can overcommit and offer less value to each thing I do
when I end up doing everything. He said
that the value I put on each relationship in my life goes down for each
additional relationship that gets added, as someone with my personality type
spreads myself out to lack time for each thing that I strive to do.
This was a beneficial
conversation, mainly because the amount of pride I put in my ability to lead,
control and be administrative does not gel together with the impulsive
personality that I have to say “yes” to everything, because I will inevitably,
on day, run out of time and lose my ability to truly be in control of
anything. From this conversation, I went
to my head pastor and told him what I had talked with Sam about, and asked Tim
how he can balance running a mega-church of 10,000 people without running out
of time, and his advice was not even his own, but he took me up to his office
and handed me a book called “Running on Empty” by Fil Anderson and said it was
single-handedly the reason he did not burn out in ministry. After reading through the book, it has given
me a freedom to say “no” to things and offer myself margin, something I have
not felt free to do prior.
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic to discuss and one that I have not thought much about. Spreading ourselves too thin seems to be all too easy, especially in college. It is important to give ourselves the time that we need to relax and recharge.