Just now joining the series? Catch up on previous posts here.

Today we’re continuing the catch phrase from yesterday:

Enjoy hobbies and interests outside of church.

I left you with the statement that our family decided to make some radical life changes. These are the things we began to incorporate into our lives:

Get more physical exercise: We decided to learn {as a family} to ice skate. Some dear friends had earlier given our whole family skates, and so we dug them out, got them sharpened, bought helmets {because we were sure we might kill ourselves learning!}, a trainer for the kids, and headed to the arena once a week. There, during the ‘parents and tots’ hour, we limped and scooted and taught ourselves how to skate. By the end of the season, we were skating confidently and loving it. I came off the ice every week feeling like a new person. It’s still my favourite sport, and I miss it in the summer. Now we enjoy biking and hiking as a family, and it’s a priority to get physical exercise year round.

Pursue further education: Our family enrolled in free French classes and I did some research into what was available in the area of music.I had always wanted to pursue my music degree, and God opened the doors for me to do that when we moved to Moncton. We live only 30 minutes from the best music college in Canada, so I landed a private instructor from the school and began my work with the Royal Conservatory. Actively having something to study did wonders for our family. {I have since had to set my degree aside because I’m busy homeschooling, but I have made progress on a degree that I hope to finish someday. But I am enjoying learning with my children in school as we study French, drawing, and classical music together.}

Develop hobbies and interests: During the {short} interim time between ministries, I started my first blog. Blogging has rather morphed for me over the years, until I landed in my God-given niche, which is ministering to women in ministry through a devotional/inspirational approach. I have always enjoyed writing, but I’ve recently worked intentionally to improve my skills. I’ve also always wanted to publish a book, and this year I saw that come to fruition through God’s provision and ….you guessed it, more hard work. I also started teaching piano again during that same time in our lives, and I continue to enjoy that even now.

I can’t express strongly enough the importance of having things you enjoy outside of ministry. It helps not only when you leave a ministry {so you don’t feel like your life is over}, but in the midst of ministry trials. Even in the more recent past as we went through some deep waters, I found my life to be much more stable and enjoyable because I have other things in my life to turn my attention to. Ministry is not the only satisfying work in my life anymore. It is a very important part, but only a part. 

If you’ve stuck with me through both parts of this topic, I salute you! And I leave you with this mandate- not a suggestion- a mandate:

Enjoy hobbies and interests outside of ministry.

Let’s Chat: What types of hobbies and interests do you enjoy outside of ministry? Did you learn the importance of this the hard way, as I did? If so, how did you become more balanced in this area? And if not, who mentored you in this area?