If you have twenty minutes...

Read Ashley Wilcox's reflection on the ebb and flow of ministry over time and a call for self-care and rest.

Walking the Labyrinth - Ashley Wilcox. (2011)

"And when I keep my focus on God, my entire life feels like a labyrinth: although I may sometimes feel like I am walking in the wrong direction, I am always on the path to the center."

Reproduced with permission from Friends Journal.  

If you have an hour...

Listen to this On Carrying a Concern podcast (Episode 07), where Benigno Sanchez-Eppler speaks to the role community played in his ministry / living into a life directed by Spirit.

(Podcast length: 1 hour 20 minutes) 

If you'd rather read a transcript of this podcast, you can find it here. 

Spiritual Practices

Journal prompt:  When have I felt despair?  How is Spirit calling me to self-care?  What support do I need from my community?

Queries for Reflection and Discussion

1)  How can discernment and worship enable us to take times of rest so that we can be patterns of loving change, rather than examples of exhaustion and despair?

2)  Given that the road ahead is long, how do we sustain the loving and grounded qualities of Spirit-Informed action, for ourselves as individuals and communities, over time and over generations? 

3)  How do we know what piece of the larger task is ours to do, since we cannot do everything? 

4)  How do we avoid burnout?  Specifically, what is the role of community and Quaker meetings?