Which is a bit weird,
once you get down to it.
Because there are two awfully big assumptions attached.
First assumption is that I AM healthy in ministry.
In reality, I think it's more of a spectrum than an either-or category. I also think I've moved back and forth on that spectrum countless times. Aaaaaaand ... um ... sometimes you're just not healthy through no fault of your own.
Like ... sometimes you take your multivitamins and get enough rest and even a flu shot, and you STILL get the flu. No point in pretending you don't have it. Here you are, feverish and pukey and whiny (that last one might be just me - I'm terrible at being sick) and NOT the picture of health. Just go to bed, take some Tylenol, drink some flat ginger ale, and get yourself better.
Sometimes pastoring is like that. Sometimes you get beat up and worn out and hurt really badly, and it's just lousy. No point in pretending it's not.
I guess in those times, pull back a bit if you can,
and try not to vomit on people,
you know?
Second assumption is that I know HOW I got there.
And I do have some principles, some practices, some ideas about how I've managed to be relatively healthy, 25 or so years into this pastoring thing.
But that being said ... sometimes I hear other people's stories, and think, "Oh dear GOD, I have NO IDEA how I would survive that." Stories like this one. And I think that's all well and good that the person and family survived and made it through, but I also want to go and *ahem* have a word with some of the people in their churches who were just ... uh ... SO AWFUL.
But then I think back to some of my own stories and think, well, I mean ... we all have our stories.
None of my stories are about you.
No worries.
YOU are delightful, always have been.
So ... we'll see how it goes this afternoon.
(PS Hands up if the title of this post is what caught your attention. Lol. Too far, maybe...?)
