Fulfilled: Living and Leading with Unusual Wisdom, Peace, and Joy

by Kirk Byron Jones

stillness, awareness, and playfulness

It is possible to be so busy trying to be so many things to so many people that we lose a sense of who we are without reference to others and their expectations.

There is an Unseen Bearer of Pastoral Burden-Bearers who speaks in an unusually calming whisper, saying, “I am with you, and together we will make it through.”

Rest leads to peace; peace leads to clarity; clarity leads to creativity.

We do not need to rest merely for refreshing and restoration. We need to rest for energy to begin new explorations, to hold in balance the tensions we encounter as leaders, and to take bolder risks on the enchanting journey of sacred transformation. Without rest, we are devoid of the potent energy required for real change.

Leaning the lit flame toward the other is what causes the unlit wick to catch fire. All the unlit flame has to do is be still.

sermonic

Welcome the day

acts 27:39

Acknowledge each new day with a gesture of acceptance and appreciation.

Stealing away to be renewed by God’s love is the necessary prerequisite to offering God’s love to others.

The prize for stealing away is a heart stolen away, in the most honorable sense of the word, by God.

Peace rather than overanxiousness with conflict and paradox.

In stillness, we can bid tensions to be at bay as we soak our souls in the restorative and reassuring waters of God’s love. Fully renewed, we may reengage in the sure knowledge that through it all, the most powerful reality of all is God’s love and the peace it brings.