“It’s been busy,” we declare with a sigh and a sideways smile. In Western culture—especially in a city like Houston, we wear our weariness like a badge of honor. If you’re not busy, what are you even doing with your life?!
Of course, life and ministry will come with seasons of unavoidable busyness. Ministers must often respond to inconvenient and urgent needs.
But I would caution any leader who lives in a continual state of hurry.
Instead, we must cultivate godly wisdom and adapt to the rhythms and constraints of the season we’re in.
When I embraced the limitations of my inevitably hard season, I was able to slow down, find space for the practices my soul needed, and cultivate some calm in the chaos.
How do we cultivate the calm our soul needs when we can’t seem to catch our breath?
Here are a few things I’ve learned the hard way:
1. Embrace your limits—because you’re not God.
I entered this discussion on finitude and rest out of pure necessity.
Working from home with two kids under two while my husband worked multiple jobs and finished a grueling PhD was a logistically complicated season—to put it mildly. Throw in a pandemic, ongoing health issues, and ministry leadership, and I was soon drowning—but slowly.
Almost imperceptibly.
The weight I was bearing came on so gradually that I had a hard time acknowledging it—though I might have taken a hint from my constant restlessness, exhaustion, and the sheer number of articles I was writing on ministry fatigue:
But that’s the funny thing about the effects of busyness and hurry. They sneak up on you.
When living beyond my limits started to take an unavoidable toll on my body and mind, I had a reckoning. In God’s kindness, I learned I was falling for the oldest trick in the book: trying to be like God.
By ignoring my human limits and taking on too much, I had lost sight of what it meant to trust God, to leave things undone as an act of worship, and to Sabbath well. But when I embraced the limitations of an inevitably hard season, I was able to slow down, find space for the practices my soul needed, and cultivate some calm in the chaos.
I hope this article helps you recognize your humanity before your body, relationships, or ministry falls apart.
Getting Started:
How would you describe the season you’re in right now?
What are some unavoidable limits of this season?
How would embracing your own finitude make space for God to work in and around you?
2. Be proactive with your schedule.
If we’re honest, sometimes our sense of hurry and chaos could be improved with better systems.
During my difficult season, I remember describing how life felt like a cart racing away from me. Sometimes, if I worked really hard, I’d be on top of the cart, trotting alongside or even riding atop of all I felt responsible for. Other times, it felt like I’d lashed myself behind the cart of life so it could just drag me along.
Fortunately, my wonderfully system-oriented husband helped me create practices that were more effective. Rather than letting life slowly drag me to death, we landed on a process that helped refuel us and prioritize our essentials.
Once a week, we “calendar talk” to look ahead, coordinate, and fit what matters most in the upcoming week. Borrowing from Stephen Covey, we start with the “big rocks”—or important events and tasks we must prioritize and any changes to our normal rhythms.
From there, we carve out time for what helps us thrive: exercise, getting quality time with people (me), getting quality time away from people (him), and decompressing sugar-fueled kids after a birthday party.
In especially busy seasons, we’ll look several weeks or months in advance and adjust accordingly.
Getting Started:
When can you take 15-20 minutes to proactively plan your schedule this week?
Who do you need to include in this planning session?
For couples, I highly recommend incorporating a “State of the Union” check-in. The full practice may not fit in your current season, but asking even one or two deepening questions can move your relationship beyond mere logistics.
3. Be realistic about what matters.
We take on tasks and responsibilities for a number of reasons.
During my busy season, I had put a lot of emphasis on things that made me feel like a good person: making home-cooked meals, keeping our expenses low, spending quality time with each kid, managing toddler emotions, cultivating meaningful conversation at the dinner table (with kids who could barely talk), mentoring and discipling women in our church, bearing my friends’ burdens, hosting our small group, and (re)cleaning our house every day.
Sound exhausting? It was!
When my husband gently suggested we make life easier by giving up nonessentials (like cloth diapers) and embracing more frozen pizzas, I bristled.
These extra tasks had become the measures by which I gauged my personal worth, so I couldn’t just let go.
Especially for ministers, it’s easy to tie up our worth or effectiveness in our methods and tasks. We can make good things the ultimate thing, which Tim Keller calls idolatry.
In busy seasons, something has to give, and if it’s not these extra responsibilities, it’s usually your own health that goes.
Getting Started:
What meaning have you placed on certain tasks or methods you currently have?
What might you need to temporarily put aside for the sake of your soul, your family, or your ministry?
How can you begin to delegate, delay, or set aside the non-essential responsibilities you have taken on?
Busy seasons come to us all, but they don’t have to wreck us. No matter how long your busy season lasts, I hope these suggestions and questions help you trust God and thrive every step of the way.
For Further Reading:
You’re Only Human: Your Limits, God's Design, and Why That’s a Good Thing, Kelly Kapic
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life, Tish Harrison Warren
Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World, John Mark Comer
The Whole Woman: Ministering to Her Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength, Kellen & Higgins —specifically Amy Whitfield’s chapter on spiritual disciplines
The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction, Justin Earley
Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul, Hannah Anderson
The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done, Kendra Adachi
Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald
Marie Burrus is a UBA Church Consultant and Communications Specialist. Her primary responsibilities are consulting on mission engagement and church communications. She also manages, edits, and contributes content for UBA's blog, website, and social media outlets.
Behind all the spreadsheets and schedules, there's a deeper purpose—advancing the Kingdom and making a difference in people's lives. And that's worth every bit of the effort.