You’ve heard me write on the importance of review and reflection – the power in “pulling off to the side of the road” to check the engine, check the compass, check the gas gauge, check the map. If we don’t take this periodic time, we risk spending a lifetime of busy activity only to find we’ve been on the wrong course all along. Or we miss the golden opportunities God has planned for us – those divine appointments.

When you review your life, what is the best way to hear yourself think?

Via Talking

Sometimes it helps to process verbally. We need someone to bounce ideas off of. We can quickly come to conclusions after we’ve heard ourself speak. Plus there’s the added benefit of feedback, pushback from the listener (if they’re good).

Via Reading

Sometimes it helps to read a good book. Highlight the sentences that jump out at you, collect all the highlights, and continue to review them over a period of time.

Via Reflection

Sometimes it helps to sit idle. Silence. No talking, just reflecting. Listening to God speak into your life as you let the water of your memory float over the good and bad experiences.

Perhaps we need all three.  Think of it like a recipe to a great dish: Half a cup of Talking. Two cups of Reading. And a cup and a half of Reflecting.

How about you? What helps you do your best thinking?

“The huge and unsinkable ship received 5 iceberg warnings that fateful night, April 14, 1912, just before it went down.  When the sixth message, ‘Look out for icebergs!’, came during the wee hours of the next morning, the operator wired back, ‘Shut up, I’m busy!’  Those were his last words over the wire.  They underestimated the power of the iceberg and overestimated their own strength.”

The Titanic. Remember the story?

Turn the tables on yourself. When you are being sent warning signals of approaching burnout, what do you do? Do you underestimate the power of the burnout? Do you overestimate your own strength?

May I suggest you navigate your “ship” differently. Try mapping out a new course with these questions:

What sucks my energy?

What replenishes my energy?

What are my own unique warning signals for approaching burnout?

What energy-giving activities will I engage in when I receive the next warning signal?

Please share your thoughts: What activities keep you safe from burnout?

2012.

It will be here before you know it. So how will you know if you’ve grown personally throughout 2011? How are you going to celebrate this December 31? What will be your measuring stick?

The last issue of the Serving Strong PowerMail* for 2010 provided subscribers a guide to help them answer these questions and make the most of 2011. I received a number of responses to this issue and I wanted to share with you in case you are not yet a subscriber to the PowerMail. Here’s the essence of the issue:

This is your chance to make 2011 THE BEST EVER. Allow me to guide you with four questions:

*Note: Some portions of this post may seem a bit graphic for some (fair warning).

A week before Christmas, my wife got the stomach flu. I’ve always been the one to hold our family’s foreheads as they bow to “worship the porcelain god.” So, there I was throughout the night, getting up with her and holding her forehead. That is, until I got the flu.

Once I started worshipping the porcelain god myself, no longer was I able to help my wife. All I was interested in was my own agony. There was no way I was going to hold her forehead feeling the way I did. I was self-absorbed.

The same is true in ministry to other people. If we are “sick” ourselves, we are too weak to help others who are “sick”. For example, if our marriage is strained, or our debt is overtaking us, or we are burned out or depressed, we cannot adequately minister to the span of care to which God has called us. We are interested in our own agony. We are self-absorbed.

The old saying on the airplane is, “put the mask on your own face before assisting others with their masks.” This seems counter intuitive, even selfish. But it points out a truth: We must remain strong so we can help others.

How do you remain strong for others?

Your grandparents said it. Your parents say it. Now you say it to your kids:

“Life happens so fast.”

If this holiday was your last one, how differently would you spend it?

I hear a frequent comment from pastors I know. It goes something like this:

“I have to admit that when I read personally that it is hard to not say – ‘hmm, this passage will really preach!’ I struggle with that at times…”

Big problems result when sermon prep squeezes out time alone with God. Fellowship with Christ suffers. The Bible morphs into a mere ”idea book” for the delivery of a product to a defined audience. Meanwhile, the Pastor’s spirit withers on the vine. This is just the environment burnout feeds on.

Pastor: We need to hear from you. Here are a couple questions:

1) Do you struggle with this? If so, how frequently?

2) How do you keep personal one-on-one time with God from turning into sermon prep?

3) Is personal study and sermon prep an either/or proposition or both/and?