The book More Lessons from the Nonprofit Boardroom, authored by Dan Busby and John Pearson, contains 40 chapters that address a specific need or problem that leaders encounter. In this book we find over 30 years experience of lots of legal help and Christian council.
Chapter 4 addresses a subject that can be easily neglected but is critical for the success of any person, and in this case, I believe this advice applies to ALL OF US in our own family context.
By “the soul”, which is the key word, we are referring to the inner being of a person, sometimes called the heart. It’s really the core of a person — so it’s important that it receive care and attention. If we don’t attend to our souls, catastrophe can result.
How much of our daily activity is devoted to discussions and action items about our souls? We find that many organizations, Many boards or small groups have never discussed the subject of soul care.
Most members of religious organizations agree to a statement of faith, and some may have a statement of actions expected of board members (such as minimum giving amounts and number of board meetings attended). But the subject of the soul is not normally addressed until crisis occurs—a staff member complains of a leader’s verbal, emotional, or physical abuse, outbursts of anger, or any other behavior that indicates an abnormal desire for power and control.
Nourish, don’t neglect
Although we may have good intentions about nourishing our souls, the biggest deterrent to doing this is the tyranny of the urgent. Everything else is screaming out for our time and attention, while the soul can always wait for tomorrow. Neglect of the soul is not intentional. Little by little, the cares of the world and and life take over without us realizing it. When a catastrophic event occurs, we discover that something is wrong with our mind, will, and emotions—our soul.
The recommendations given in this book are so simple that I though it would be great for all our families to keep these in mind, because we all need this from time to time.
These activities feed and will nourishing our souls:
Make provision each week for rest.
Spend regular time in the Word, prayer, and meditation (Psalms 1–2).
Put our family time overwork. If possible, try to spend more time with our family while working. Integrate family to workday.
Take all allotted vacation time each year.
Cultivate healthy friendships, both inside and outside our community.
Take time for spiritual retreats and time alone with our spouse.
Disclose spiritual struggles to our spouse, and form a close accountability group
I believe this list should be applied and encouraged in our school to follow. Because... school is not easy! And it is a full time job!
The potential consequence of failure in caring for our souls is devastation to our home. If we as parents fall (We have all seen how the enemy will love to use others watching and ready to pin point our failures to publicize that this program does not work). One failure could be too much to overcome — I have seen this happen over and over again, where moms and dads are burned out, dads stressed, and then it affects the whole family environment at home and work.
The advice given, I believe is appropriate at this time of year specially when we feel the last stretch is right around the corner. Or overwhelmed feelings of trying to fit everything into our calendar. Or just hurrying up all that was not accomplished in past months.
I want to encourage our families today to JUST NOURISH OUR SOUL. Let’s consistently nourish our own souls in God´s perfect way that he has designed for our lives and family and try to invite those around us to do the same. Praying for others that the effects ripple outward, we will see our groups become healthier also.
My prayer for each family is that or Lord´s peace may be found in each home and that a nourishing time can be healing to the soul for all our moms and dads.
Just a little time to rekindle the important moments we need in life.
God bless, Maureen de Katase
Book intro taken from HSLDA
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