This encouragement is from Jill Duncan. Jill is from England and is currently based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She is a youth worker at St Andrew’s Church, Abu Dhabi and works with Youth Unlimited (the name for YFC in the UAE.

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Last year, at the age of 30 I was diagnosed with ADHD, this was a revelation to me, but no one else seemed surprised! I get bored, think and act very quickly and my idea of a good holiday is doing as much as possible, in as little time as possible. This is unfortunate, as I live in the Middle East, which isn’t exactly known for its fast pace of life!

I’ve particularly noticed how slow the pace of life was in Biblical days and how Jesus never seemed to be in a rush. For example when reading the resurrection account in John, Mary “went to the tomb early” and met the risen Jesus (20:1), but He didn’t appear to the disciples until the “evening of the that day” (20:9) and then “eight days later” he appeared again to meet Thomas (20:26), I would have assumed that meeting the disciples would have been high on His to do list! There are many examples of Jesus seeming to take his time or telling others to do so; arriving 4 days after Lazarus died, 40 days in the wilderness, be a Mary not a Martha (Luke 10:38-42), teachings about Sabbath etc. There are obviously practical reasons why things happened more slowly in first century Israel, but this is even more reason to have an honest look at how busy we are and why.

In ministry, we can often see being busy, tired and stressed as a badge of honour and we want people to realise how sacrificial and hardworking we are (or maybe that’s just me?). Many of the young people we work with are heading towards exams (if you live in the northern hemisphere). What are we modelling about pace and balance in life? There are some people that we need to push to give more effort, but increasingly I’m seeing young people who are anxious, stressed and are putting unreasonable pressure on themselves. We have a responsibility to be good role models, in how we live our lives, as well as being known for what we don’t do. It’s easy to assume that the busier we are, the more effective we are, but there is a risk that we are being ineffective and doing too much, not very well!

This will be more relevant to some than others, but I pray that you’ll find time to slow down, to be in God’s presence and to let Him love you for who you are, not for what you do.

The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.’

            ~Zephaniah 3:17

Jill Duncan
jillduncan@standrewauh.org