I’m sitting here… arm burning… in pain… but for a good reason.
It’s a reminder of a particularly rough season of my life.
It’s my new tattoo… the phrase, “Otium Sanctum”.
You can check out the earlier post to get caught up on the phrase, but as I was laying there feelin’ the burn, I remembered back to the reason I was getting this tattoo done in the first place. Once upon a time, my life was great looking on the outside but inside was a huge mess. I was burned out on ministry and life in general and my relationship with God and my family was suffering. But everything SEEMED great. I was paying the bills, work was flowing in… life SEEMED really great. Remember everything is not what it seems sometimes. The process of getting to health is never easy. It takes work, dedication to the process, and patience that everything you want in life does not have to happen right now. That’s the beauty of life… it will go on for a while so you don’t have to stress out about what you don’t have. Hindsight now… this season definitely could have been avoided by building in margin, time, relationship, and priorities. I don’t want to go to far into the subject… there are some great resources available on this subject that go much deeper than I could in a blog post… “Mad Church Disease” and “Confessions of a Pastor” are two books that helped me and will help you no matter if you are ministry or not… both will help you get focused on the main thing… your relationship with God. Anyways, seasons of busyness will come and go but you have to take the time to get back to basics.
Of course the classic “Celebration of Discipline” is the book that really helped spur me on to the idea of ‘holy leisure’. It is the quintessential book for getting back to basics. But it doesn’t leave you there… it will take you to another level in your walk with God if you apply the information found within. So here’s the new tatt… on my left inner bicep… close to my heart, just like the phrase. Take some time to enjoy holy leisure today.
