| Happy Easter season, everyone! During the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost, sometimes called Eastertide, followers of Jesus worldwide celebrate his resurrection. I’m hoping for a little resurrection myself this Eastertide. To be honest, I’ve been running on fumes for a long time. Initiating and co-managing Broomfield’s severe cold weather sheltering efforts from 2019-2022, my marital separation and divorce last year, the loss of our chocolate lab, recent co-parenting and financial challenges, and just regular life and ministry stress, plus not doing the best job taking care of myself and maintaining healthy boundaries, have all combined to leave me feeling burned out, emotionally exhausted and frayed at the edges. After processing all that for several months with close confidants and my teammates at The Refuge, we came up with a plan. Starting last week, I began a “mini-sabbatical.” It’ll last for six weeks total and end in early June. I don’t remember ever taking more than five days off of work in a row, so this will be a completely new experience for me. I’m grateful to have teammates willing and able to cover for me while I’m gone and to have the flexibility to do this in the first place, as I know many well-deserving and hard-working people aren’t ever able to take this much consecutive time off. My overall goals are to rest, recharge and recreate, some specifics on my agenda include: a limited timeframe of support raising, therapy to process all of the above as well as “secondary trauma” from my work, spiritual direction, work with a clearness committee, several camping and flyfishing trips, regular exercise, time to write creatively, and downtime with my kids and close friends. |
A time of rest
