A significant vocational opportunity has recently opened up for me, and I’ve decided to say yes. I’m grateful. After a season of uncertainty, there’s something deeply good about having meaningful work in front of me again. But every meaningful yes carries some necessary no’s with it.
So I’ve been sitting with two questions during this transitional season:
What am I supposed to take hold of?
What am I supposed to let go of?
Over the last six months, I’ve had the freedom to give my attention to a lot of different things: writing, coaching, teaching, preaching, creating content, facilitating workshops, and exploring new possibilities. Many of those things have been good, and some have been deeply life-giving. But I’m realizing I can’t carry all of them into the next season.
I’m having to reckon with a truth that I know but am needing to remind myself of as the path before me unfolds: sometimes faithfulness means doing less.
We often think about stewardship in terms of doing more with what we’ve been given. Develop the gift. Seize the opportunity. Don’t waste your potential. Make an impact. There’s truth in all of that, but faithful stewardship of one area of our lives often demands the reevaluation of others. If I say yes to something significant, I need to give that yes enough room to actually take root and develop into something. I can’t simply wedge a new responsibility into an already crowded life and expect fruitfulness.
Sometimes stewardship means cultivation, and sometimes it means pruning. Jesus’ words in John 15 remind us that pruning isn’t reserved for things that are unhealthy or fruitless. The Father also prunes what is bearing fruit so that it can become more fruitful. That’s an important truth for me to meditate on right now. I’m not stepping away from some things because they were bad or because they weren’t bearing any fruit. Some of them have been deeply meaningful. I’m pruning because—despite what I’d like to believe—I can’t faithfully cultivate everything at once.
So in this next season I’ll be doing three things;
A. Step away from some things entirely
B. Hold others much more loosely
C. Resist the temptation to turn every interest, opportunity, or idea into another responsibility.
The Holy Roller blog is part of that mix. I love writing here, and I’m not shutting it down. But I am letting go of the idea that I need to feed it regularly. Posts will probably become considerably less frequent, perhaps just a handful a year. When something gets sufficiently under my skin that I need to write about it, you’ll hear from me. Otherwise, I’ll be trying to give myself wholeheartedly to the assignment God has for me right now.
Through all of this, I’m learning to embrace the truth that often the measure of faithfulness isn’t how much we’re willing to carry. It’s knowing what we’re supposed to put down, and being willing to do so in order to more faithfully steward what God has placed in front of us.
The other thing to remember is the importance of delegation - sometimes others can do just as good a job.
As a fairly recent subscriber I have certainly enjoyed your posts. However, as you say its all about balance. Glad to here you will still give us the good word from time to time.