A Personal Reflection on Gratitude

ServiceReef announces new way to level-up your short-term trip program: Missions Made Simple We invite you to learn more about how Missions Made Simple —the digital course in missions—can help you achieve greater engagement with your program Louisville, KY-- Mobilizing people to short and long term missions can be cumbersome and confusing. Thousands of missions programs and missions leaders across the globe need more training to equip and engage their teams for short-term and long-term missions trips. We have the tools you need to overcome these challenges and see exponential growth.  Introducing: Missions Made Simple. Created by ServiceReef, Missions Made Simple is a digital course for missions that will help you take your program to the next level. Missions Made Simple was created to help set you up for amazing success as a missions mobilizer, organization leader, team leader, or anyone walking down a path of greater missional engagement. “This felt like the perfect time to release the work we've been doing for years with so many others. Digital is the quickest, most easily accessible way for you to connect yourself and your team to training that fits your missions goals.” said Micah Pritchard, Co-Founder of ServiceReef. How can Missions Made Simple help you? Many ways. Here are three major ways we can help you: #1 Resources to Grow: You will find many resources to help equip you to better lead, guide, and engage those living a missional life.  Explore our courses, worksheets, videos, assessments, and other resources. #2 Connect with Others: We believe you should never feel alone as a missions mobilizer. That's why we have created an online community of others who are equipping and mobilizing people to missional living. Join today to connect with others just like you. #3 Confidence to Lead: Mobilizing and leading people to missional living can be intimidating while at times leaving you to wonder if you're doing it right or well. Here you can find the confidence to go further faster with these tools and the community of others who are mobilizing. About the Missions Made Simple course Level-Up Your Short Term Trip Program will be a game-changer for your missions program. Here you will talk through 10 strategic categories critical to your enhancing your short term trip program. We're certain these sessions will help you and your team achieve greater engagement and program success. Watch the introduction video to learn more about Missions Made Simple:    Here's what you will get from this course: 10 critical tools to equip you for leading missions 10 short video-guided courses Facts about these 10 core functional areas Assessments questions to help you evaluate your current engagement Tips for how to improve One key action item for you and your team Downloadable worksheets with more ideas Discussion board to discuss more ideas with key leaders  Sign up today... we're certain this will help you better your short-term missions program in no time! “This course isn't just for ServiceReef members. This is for all missions leaders to watch and learn—so you're equipped with the tools you need in your missions toolkit." said Will Rogers, Co-Founder of ServiceReef. The course aims to encourage and equip every missions leader and your team to achieve greater engagement and program success.  ServiceReef has set up a special page for missions leaders to be encouraged and equipped with resources to help you grow, connect with others, and give you the confidence you need to lead well. Find out more details and learn about creating a free account today right here.    ServiceReef knows managing mission trips can be time-consuming and stressful. ServiceReef brings all the pieces of missions - participants, forms, team leaders, fundraising, donors, meetings, & more - into a single platform so you can reduce stress and focus on leading your teams. ServiceReef is everything you need for missions Learn more at https://servicereef.com/.

Throughout my career, I feel that the concept of Work-Life Balance has perpetually been a struggle.  During my children’s younger years, it was nearly impossible.  It seemed as if I spent 50-60 hours at work, I should be spending at least that much time in direct contact with family or friends, or spend that much time exercising in order to “balance” all of it out. The allure of the word “balance” comes from this idea that if we can just find a way to obtain this, we can walk a narrow tightrope between expectations and find a path that somehow honors everything around us.  If we can just find balance, then we can figure out how to keep it.  While work-life is a common attempt at this, the concept permeates so many other areas of our life, even within a specific role or arena.   I used to joke with over-working employees that if balance was true, for every 60+ hour week, there would be a week in which the job would only demand 20 hours.  After all, mathematically, that is what “averaging 40-45 hours per week” would result in.  It never happened that I can recall :-) As the years have passed, I realize now that balance isn’t obtainable and is likely the wrong goal to be striving after.  I now prefer to use the concept of “tension”.   Tension in our lives There is a tension between my desire to spend time with my spouse, my family, be a good friend to others, work hard, provide value to my company and clients, exercise, etc.  All of these endeavors are good things.  However, some days, one area of my life might need, or even demand, my attention.  That creates tension on the other areas as I pull from there to provide the focus to an area of need. In my mind, the word balance conjures images of a seesaw on a playground.  One side must go down while another goes up.  While the concept of tension feels more like climbing ropes.  The tension between the climber’s weight and the belayer creates safety and allows for focus on the task at hand I have found that the concept of tension aligns more theologically as well.  There are tensions often in what God asks us to do.  Serving or giving generously, by definition, creates tension in other areas of our lives.  It becomes a question of trust: If I give in this area, can I trust you God to provide in other areas?   Tension in Scripture The Jewish scholars at the time of Jesus understood this well.  Although the law had 613 commandments spelled out in the Torah, the leaders throughout time had created additional laws to help the people keep those that were essential.  However, even within those 613 laws directly from God, there were sometimes challenges or seemingly competing priorities.   While primarily a theoretical exercise, it was essential for them to wrestle with what God asks them to do.  For example, God clearly commands that they were not to work on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11).  However, if a neighbor’s donkey were to fall into a well on the Sabbath, could you help it out?  After all, Deuteronomy 22:4 commands that you help out livestock, even that of your enemies.  In this situation, what would actually constitute “work”... and if you chose to love your neighbor by helping him with his livestock in an emergency, would that actually be a better choice?  It was a situation filled with tension.  Jesus even calls them out on this in Luke 14:5.   In that time, in order to help people navigate this tension, a Rabbi would have an ordered structure to the laws of scripture that he would call his “Yoke”.  They were prioritized in the most important law, the second greatest, and so on to help make these hard decisions easier.  Those that followed that rabbi would “take on his yoke” to help them with these situations.  If you found yourself in a situation where you needed to violate a law, you could only violate it with a higher priority law. This is why Jesus was asked, “What is the most important commandment?” (Matthew 22:36-40) They were asking about his yoke, his order of how to navigate this tension between two seemingly competing priorities or commands.   Suggested practice: Each week, take five minutes to ask: Where is the tension highest in my life? What deserves my focus this week, and what can wait?   A little secret... the power of "and" In today’s world, I have found that how I handle interruptions is key to my internal struggle with tensions.  If I get aggravated by an interruption, it’s likely an insight into how I’m doing internally or even how I’m currently managing my tensions. As I have wrestled with this over the years, I realize that it comes from this western perspective that I can only be doing A OR B activities.  There is some truth to that; by pulling my attention from A to give it to B, I am no longer focussed in that area.  However, this is not always true.  There are elements in which I can combine activities to achieve two elements at once.  Quick examples might include:  Walking with a spouse or friend, which provides both exercise AND relational connection Making dinner while listening to music/podcast; performing a task AND refueling yourself Taking someone to practice and bringing a book or taking a walk while waiting; allowing you to pour into yourself AND get some time with your child If you can find ways in which you can accomplish two key functions at once, you can more easily live within the tensions that life provides.   Living within health tension I have tried, not entirely successfully, to try and view situations as a chance to be intentional with my “and”.  Driving to yet another soccer practice can instead by viewed as a chance to get an uninterrupted 10-20 minutes in the car with one my kids, allowing myself to be intentional for that ride.  It’s not “just” an interruption to the day.   However, having the understanding of “tensions” instead of just striving for balance.  And then layering on the ability to view life and interruptions as a chance to navigate and find an “and” in the situation allows me to better live within the world and demands of every week.   Some other ways that help are: Naming the tension rather than fighting it. Setting “seasonal” priorities instead of daily ones. Inviting accountability through a spouse, mentor, or friend.   Wrapping Up Jesus’ yoke he presented as being easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).  Jesus wasn’t removing the tension but helping us live it out in peace by fulfilling all of the law into two areas: Love God and Love Others.  As you reflect this week: Where in your life are you chasing balance instead of embracing tension? What’s one area this week where you can practice the power of ‘and’? What is one thing you can release or let go of in order to focus on where God is calling you? I hope you find blessing in this perspective as well.  Let me know what you think and where this provides benefit to you below.