I’ve grown weary of articles telling others what they should and should not do. I am especially weary of the “Pastor, Here Are 14 Things You MUST Do to Succeed” posts. I say all of that to say, take what I’m saying here as the simple ramblings of a guy who has found help and think you might too—or you might not.
For quite awhile now I’ve had this practice of trying to learn a new skill every month. It’s had me trying to learn to make an omelet, learning a Rubik’s cube, and pretty soon it’ll have me trying my hand at both improv comedy and pottery.
This has been incredibly helpful to my soul and to my mental health. I encouraged folks awhile back to Be a Creed. I think it’s a helpful practice for really anybody to try to learn a new skill every month. But today I want to say that it’s been absolutely helpful to me as a pastor.
First, it’s a reminder to me that I’m human. I don’t mean here that it keeps me off a pedestal (though that’s always a needed practice). I mean that doing these things reminds me that I’m not fundamentally Pastor Mike. I’m Mike. I’m not a resource, I’m a human. I’m a human that is trying to make an absolutely killer oatmeal crock-pot recipe. Not for a sermon illustration. Not for some deeply spiritual thing but because God created me with taste buds and to find enjoyment in things like oatmeal.
Which, as a side note, this is why I went home and wept after our Pastor Appreciation meal back in October. The gifts and cards they gave were amazing and I would have been blown away by that alone. But there has been a way they’ve communicated love to my family and I that makes us feel a part of the family. I feel valued and loved as a person and not just as the guy who preaches.
But for some reason I think there is always a pull to dehumanize our pastors. So to perpetually do battle with the professionalization of pastoral ministry, I’ll keep trying to make an outrageously wonderful oatmeal. Just because.
Secondly, When I try new skills I’m sometimes awful at them. This not only keeps me humble but it keeps me fresh and alive. It’s good to fail. And to fail miserably. If we only try things we are good at and succeed in, then we are going to be very flat characters and even the things we do well are going to become dull.
Lastly, it allows me to put energy into something tangible. This is also why I’ve taken up woodworking. Pastoral ministry is difficult in that it’s never really finished. But I can finish a crafting project. I make oatmeal. I can learn the Rubik’s cube. I can discover that I’m absolutely terrible at making an omelet. (I still can’t get it to look like an omelet). Having an end to something helps our pysche.
Maybe you’re the type of person that is able to thrive nose to the grind, writing sermons, thinking deep thoughts, building relationships, and all that stuff 24/7. I’m not. I collapse. So, I’ve learned that doing things like this will help me to be far more productive and healthy.
And it’s enjoyable.
