Barnabas File

“If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.”—Eubie Blake While driving to an appointment recently, I suddenly realized how much time I now spend in taking care of my physical body.   When a person is young and busy, he or she may let other things take precedence over important activities.   Physical well-being is one of those.   When you are young, you think you are going to live forever with the same vigor and stamina. As an older adult, I am aware of how my expanding list of names and contact information for various specialists and how often medical appointments pop up on my calendar.   I see my physician twice a year—one for an annual physical and once to make sure my meds are working properly.   My dentist makes sure that I see him twice a year.   I have regular appointments with my ophthalmologist and have started seeing a chiropractor.   Of course, my g astroenterolog ist always makes sure ...

Ircel Harrison, Joel Emerson, Phillip Moody, and Chris O'Rear Occasionally, I will come across notes from some professional conference I attended years ago.   Many of these dealt with self-care and life/work balance.   As I review those notes, I find that this has always been a challenge for me.   I assume that it is for many of us in ministry.   How do we take care of ourselves and those about whom we care while pursuing the demanding life of a minister? This week I attended a conference sponsored by Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee.   My friend, Chris O’Rear, who is executive director of the Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee, had the unenviable assignment of being the final speaker of a worthwhile but day-long conference.   Fortunately, Chris’ presentation was worth staying to hear.   He discussed the topic that never goes away—work/life balance for clergy. I won’t try to share in this post everything that Chris said, b...