One of the things I have learned from years of ministry life is that to do ministry or to be a minister long term requires CONSTANT RE-CREATION. That is the creating anew of my personhood in the short and the long term. It is resetting myself to factory settings or making entirely new settings from which my life will operate.

RE-CREATION comes in two forms: RECREATION….AND REFORMATION.

Regular recreation helps me RE-CREATE myself on a weekly basis. This is the work of setting myself back to a healthy center. For me a healthy center is the space where I am in touch with the Spirit of Jesus. In that space I am loving, joyful peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self controlled.

Regular recreation is a daily and a weekly work and for me it requires the practice of three mindsets.

RECREATION REQUIRES ME TO SLOW DOWN.

Recreation for me is stopping to smell the roses or the herbal flowers as it were.

I garden not so much for the look of the garden but for smell. Right now the garden is full of the scent of basil, mint and oregano. Each season has its own fragrance that helps me to get in a recreating mood and gardening towards those scents is for me one of the most relaxing things in the world.

RECREATION REQUIRES ME TO BE CONSTANT.–

The busier I become with ministry the more time I need to PLAN for recreation. Daily this requires me to schedule in restorative prayer between every ministry function. Ministry is a pouring out of all I am physically, emotionally and spiritually so before and after I minister I need to spend time in RESTORATIVE PRAYER.

Beyond that I need to weekly take time to do something that makes me truly relax. That used to mean watching TV. That is becoming less so now. Currently I am learning the relaxing JOY OF GARDENING and NAPPING.

FINALLY RECREATION REQUIRES ME TO BE INTENTIONAL.

I have learned that the less planned I am the more unhealthy I am. I need to plan as much as I can on a weekly basis including my daily and weekly times of recreation. I need to schedule in my RESTORATIVE PRAYER TIME daily.

I need to intentionally plan when those times will come in my schedule, where they will be held, how long they will last and what form the RESTORATIVE PRAYER take..

I also need to plan my SABBATH DAY. What I am going to do, when I am going to do it and most importantly when I am going to NAP.

I AM CURIOUS WHAT MINDSETS HELP YOU TO PRACTICE RECREATION?