I shared on Sunday night about a question that I think is important in this discussion of Sabbath. I asked “What are some roadblocks that stand in the way of your making Sabbath a discipline in your life?”
As you wrestle with this question, I have been dealing with it myself. I see several barriers in my own life.
1. Boundaries. I read a book several years ago which was very challenging and instructive. It was titled Boundaries, and it was written by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend. They talk about the importance of setting healthy boundaries in all areas of your life and taking control of what’s your responsibility. The area where this is a biggest struggle is maintaining boundaries between personal time and church-related work since so much of my social network falls into both categories – personal friends and church members. This is an area I need to work on. It’s hard to engage Sabbath when you don’t take a hard line on boundaries.
2. Essential or critical roles. In several places in my life, I am doing things that others could be doing. Because of this I have been serving in roles that I am not best suited for, and I need to step out and create space for someone else to step in. Because of this, I haven’t been able to give attention to what only I can do or what I can do better than anyone else on my team. It’s hard to engage Sabbath when you are doing too much.
3. Transition. I am in the midst of a significant life transition. I won’t be in school this fall for the first time since I was wearing pull-ups. It’s been over 20 years. And that transition is causing me to re-assess and rethink a lot of things. I am having to learn a new way of life. I knew how to create space for Sabbath amidst the school, work and personal life. But now that there’s no school, it is a different ball game. This is going to be a roadblock I have to work through over the next few months.
What about you? What’s a roadblock standing in your way? Is it legitimate and what would it take for it to be removed?
Tomorrow we will talk about what it takes to start making something happen here. Small steps with big impact.
-Savage
I could relate to your point about how no longer going to school changes your life. After graduating from Southwest Baptist University (go Bearcats!) in May of 93′, life was very different. You spend 17 years going to school and all of a sudden it is different. I got so used to having everything planned out and in front of me and after I graduated from college I was living life on a blank page. I didn’t know what was going to happen next for the first time in my life. The day I graduated I was told that the headline in a recent Wall Street Journal had read something like worst job market for graduates since the end of World War II! Finding a job was extremely frustrating and difficult back then for a lot of different reasons worthy of another blog. It is challenging but for what it’s worth I think that you have a lot of things going for you. Hang in there! My advice is to go slow and not to rush things. That is usually good advice for major life changes. Let yourself adapt to your new reality.
As far as the other obstacles go, I could relate to the one on boundaries. That is an area that I am still working on and struggling with in my life. My latest mentality toward this issue is to think of time like money and to “budget” my time. I usually do these casual schedules just to get the time matched up with the things that need to be done and then some improvising can be done from there. It goes back to the “plan” thing that I talked about in my last comment on the other Sabbath posting.
I found your obstacle about “roles” fascinating. I have heard of that before. I don’t know if that is happening in my life or not. I understand what you mean, though.
Scott,
I enjoy both perspectives because they are real time involvement. I also went the link, “Balance v. Integration.” What I’m still chewing on is, “achieve work/life integration as opposed to work/life balance.” Maybe someone can explain this to me in more detail.
Detaching is my albatross. I don’t detach well from what is trivial and value added. I’ve always been accused by friends and family for not slowing down and smelling the roses, the difference in getting somewhere quickly or just slowing down to enjoy the scenery.
Fast trackers who throw themselves into the deep end of competition like I have wake up later in life realizing the field of friends left are divorced, suicidal, medicated, and prematurely aged measuring success by how young they were when they had their first heart attack. That’s the bad news if you don’t set up some personal boundaries. Scott you may not know this but you gave me a very valuable tool which I’ve been using….Six Weeks.
Some words from my dad
Don’t take boundaries and turn them into walls. Manage the project don’t manage results. Friends and family are not a business. Just because you can’t see the end doesn’t mean you can’t manage the present. Three things that will slow you down: marriage, children, and old age.
On that note I found the input very informational and enjoyable.
Michael
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