Last night we met at church with several hundred other volunteer leaders and it’s nights like those that I leave and just feel FULL.  We had about an hour outside under a tent full of the most amazing displays of antique lovliness and goodies (I’m talking Moon Pies, Kettle Corn and Coke in glass bottles!) to hang out and talk and connect with people from all 5 of our campuses.  Since we attend the Downtown Campus and have been in a Downtown Community Group for the past year and I’m no longer on staff at church, it felt like I hadn’t seen some of those friends for ages!

We then all moved into the worship center and after a song or two, our main teaching pastor came up not to give us a run down of all that’s been going on or how the church is doing with this or that… but he came to encourage us.  And the first thing he said stuck with me.  He said our first priority as leaders is the feeding and cultivating of our souls.

And even if you aren’t a Christian, if you don’t have any desire to know anything about Christ, it still applies.  Because if we are trying to lead – whether at work, at church, in our families – and we aren’t taking care of ourselves first, then everything else will begin to crumble.

If we don’t have an adequate amount of sleep, if we skip meals because we’re doing so much, if we neglect our own heath because we’re watching out for others, then we’re actually doing everyone around us a disservice. Do you know the airline safety videos they show at the beginning of every flight?  And do you know the part where they talk about the oxygen masks falling from the ceiling if there’s a loss of pressure?  Well, each time they say to secure your own mask before helping anyone around you.  Because bottom line is that if we can’t breathe, we can’t function, and we can’t help anyone around us.

So today, I’m focusing on myself.  I’m going to finish reading Aspire.  I’m going to go to Crossfit.  I’m going to stay away from the computer as much as I can.  And I’m going to go into my session tonight refreshed and hopefully with creative juices that are ready to spill out!  We have 3 weddings this month and while I’m SO excited about all of them, the next few weeks are going to be amazingly crazy!  So today is for me.

I saw this bench on Saturday before Leigh and Phillip arrived at the park and with the way the light was hitting it from behind as I saw it through the trees, it made me want to just stop and sit there and rest. And after last night, I knew today needed to be a day to spend on “a bench”.

Happy Tuesday :-)