Spiritual Disciplines

As servant leaders, we are faced with many challenges in promoting a work/life balance. However, there is a hidden challenge in the well-meaning literature and research that emphasizes this often elusive concept, and that is in the inherent complexity and unpredictability of life. Balance is best achieved in systems that are relatively stable and predictable, and the demands on our lives are seldom neatly organized and compartmentalized. Another important question relates to whether or not the notion is biblical. As Pastor John Ortberg noted in his outstanding book The Life you Have Always Wanted (2002), the goal is not balance, but harmony based upon seasons. If you examine the leadership ministries of Jesus and the apostles, you see a commitment first to obeying the Lord’s direction in the forms of seasons of life. The apostle Paul endured long periods of work, imprisonment, sleepless nights, hunger, and cold. Jesus devoted whole nights to prayer and service and even worked on the Sabbath at times. What am I recommending? There are levels of balance within the various life domains that define the seasons of our lives. Hence, it is important to commit to the following practices.