Fueling Up

Quinn had a difficult evening, so this post might go up a bit past the midnight deadline... such is life with a baby. I still don't feel like we figured out what was making her so sad; it could be that she was just tired.

But, as she was calming down and we were cuddling, and I was thinking "what can I possibly post about tonight? I am so tired..." I had a glimmer of a thought. I feel like clergy types talk a lot about taking care of ourselves, and are notoriously bad at it. It seems to me that inspiration and encouragement, which as a pastor, I want to give people professionally, and as a person, I would like to give people, well, personally, are things that you need input in order to produce output.

I'm preaching this Sunday for the first time since before Quinn's birth... which means that it has been a long time, but also that it's hard to find the right kind of energy to craft a sermon (the time is also an issue). And yet, I feel so fortunate that I have a lot of sources of inspiration and encouragement in my life. Just in the last two days, two different people have shared stories with me that really bore witness to God's working (in ways big and small) in their lives. I have many other pastors I can connect with talk to, and count on to pray for me. And, I really do find inspiration in our baby in brief and magical glimpses.

So, if you have to fuel up on inspiration in order to produce it, I would say I'm well-supplied. And that's good news for everyone who has to hear me preach on Sunday! :)