I never thought I would ever have a sabbatical. In fact, when I spoke to the Diocese about the possibility, they were surprised that I had never taken one. Evidently, I am an outlier. Most priests/pastors have a requirement that a sabbatical will be part of the life of a congregation every seven years or so. I guess I never got the memo.
You may wonder what I do now that I figured this all out. Well beyond the four hours of prayer and three hours of Bible Study and four hours of writing…. I kid. My sabbatical life feels a lot like it did before the sabbatical. Although I do not have any meetings. And I do not miss meetings. In fact, when asked what I did as a priest, I used to say “I work on sermons, classes I teach and I go to meetings.” It’s amazing what one can get accomplished when one doesn’t go to meetings! Patrick Lencioni wrote a book a number of years ago called Death by Meeting. It is a leadership fable that expresses how deadly poorly run meetings are. I tried to put into practice a couple of his ideas but to no avail. It seems that meetings are so deeply embedded in our culture that if people don’t gather in meetings then there is some serious pushback. So, now that I am not accountable to my staff, I don’t have to go to scheduled meetings.
So, what did I do today? I went to a meeting. Wait, what? Well, it was a breakfast meeting with a friend I haven’t seen since the 1980’s. The early 1980’s. He contacted me a while back and after learning that I am now in Lawrence, he suggested we get together for breakfast.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever reached out to someone you haven’t seen in a while or sought to restart an old friendship? I suppose it could either be a joy or a pain, depending on the relationship. But this was a joy. My friend had taught with me at a nearby school in those early years of our careers. To see him was an amazing reminder of how quickly life passes one by and how important it is to remember that relationships are the key to a life well-lived. We met for over an hour and I savored every moment. This meeting was not deadly but a true joy. The eggs and hash browns weren’t bad either. I know we will meet again. And again.
I wonder if all those meetings I had that felt like “death by meeting” could have been enhanced by scrambled eggs and hash browns? Or maybe I could have cherished them more if I would have focused more on relationships than the agenda. Maybe you could too.
Until next time,
DP
While still working I too hated meetings. It seem that a two hour conference would not accomplish in 15 minutes meeting with individuals personally.
Over the past couple of years I have renewed relationships with a couple of old friends from my youth. I do wish I would have done that sooner.
Good blog. Makes me think about what’s important in life.
Yes. Life can be complicated, but it’s pretty clear what’s important. I think we all could stop majoring in the minors.