Go find a cup or glass. Fill it up. Now pour it out.
You’re the cup. What you have is what’s in it. What you pour into others is what you have.
You cannot give what you don’t have. It leads to burnout and stagnation.
The Importance Of Development
I focus on two primary areas of development, spiritual and personal. The first primarily focuses on my relationship with God. I have to maintain that relationship and go deeper with God in order to grow as a Christian.
Personal development is becoming better at what I do. It’s training my attributes and skills in areas I’m weak in and building on what I have. I can’t teach what I don’t know and I can’t lead if I haven’t been there.
Well, I can, but I won’t be effective.
Spiritual Development
I’ve written often on burnout. It comes from being disconnected from God and doing things under my own power. That’s why I use Mondays as a Spiritual Development day.
They generally look like this:
- 8:30 Notes from a Systematic Theology book.
- 9:00 Intercessory Prayer Through a List
- 9:30 Exercise (not part of the development)
- 10:00-11:30 I look at areas I need to grow in, am curious about, or spend more time on my usual study through the Gospels. Sometimes I sing with earbuds in so I can’t hear me (sorry neighbors).
Personal Development
Over the course of the years, I’ve taken a lot of notes. Then they sit, unread. This year I began reading the ones that impacted me the most again.
I read it takes reading a book about 50 times before it’s a part of you. Testing this Principle I will read my notes every Wednesday until they’re a part of me. This type of reading is called formational reading.
This is what’s in my notebook:
- Notes from John Maxwell’s Everyone Communicates, Few Connect
- Notes from a Leadership Bible Plan
- My blog post on temptation
- My blog post on dealing with critics
- Notes from Jocko Wilink’s Extreme Ownership
- Notes from John Maxwell’s The 360 Degree Leader
- Notes from Henri Nouwen’s Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life
- Biblical Counseling Notes from ChurchLeaders
The more you pour into others, the more you have to be poured into. Don’t neglect yourself in these areas. You can’t give what you don’t have.
A Ronin's Journey 