Issue No. 277 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting encourages you to put the rat race on pause with a half-day spiritual discernment retreat. Plus, this reminder: check out my “new and improved” Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings. And click here to download the master list of my 275 book reviews, categorized into the 20 management buckets.
Rat Race Antidote
Steve Macchia’s gentle invitation to soul care is both compelling and convicting.
“Like many aspects of the spiritual life, discernment is hard to do on the run,” he writes in the new half-day Spiritual Discernment Retreat Guide for individuals and groups. He adds, “We need to pause, quiet ourselves, and pay attention. That’s the purpose of this retreat guide.”
Every important leadership topic doesn’t require a book or a conference. So we should be grateful that Macchia wrote this simple 15-page retreat guide as a resource for Christ-followers who are wrestling with fork-in-the-road decisions. As the founder and president of Leadership Transformations, Inc. and author of numerous books, Steve has a full plate—but he also practices what he preaches.
Think back over the inappropriate (and perhaps regrettable) decisions you’ve made in your life. If you could, would you turn back the calendar for a do-over—and first invest a half-day in a spiritual discernment exercise? Most of us would.
Why discernment? And what’s the difference between decision-making and spiritual discernment? “Discernment is the process of prayerfully sifting through the many voices that vie for our daily attention, and invite us instead to listen carefully to the gentle whispers of God.”
The guide quotes Eugene Peterson, “In order to pray I have to be paying more attention to God than to what people are saying to me, to God than to my clamoring ego. Usually, for that to happen there must be a deliberate withdrawal from the noise of the day, a disciplined detachment from the insatiable self.”
The retreat guide (individual and group versions) gives basic suggestions on selecting a half-day retreat location, what to bring and what not to bring. And here’s the gut check: Macchia says if you want to hear from God, leave your laptop and cell phone at home.
The resource includes a “Guide to Worship and Prayer” and short “Soul Care Retreat Touch Point” readings on key topics:
• Retreats for Companioning with God
• Silence and Solitude
• Intimacy with Christ
• Contemplative Bible Reading
• Reflective Journaling
Earlier this year during a one-day prayer retreat, I was reminded that more than 25 years ago, Tony Danhelka, a friend and small group brother, had inspired me to put the rat race on pause and take occasional soul days.
We’re all deluded into thinking we don’t have time—and most of my life I have sadly succumbed to that rodent’s marathon. So I’m grateful for this simple resource from Steve Macchia and I will savor these 15 pages at my next day away.
A Chinese proverb says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” So today, schedule a date for a half-day spiritual discernment retreat.
In Crafting a Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way, Macchia quotes Frederick Buechner’s inspiring insight:
“The place God calls you to
is the place where your deep gladness
and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
Imagine if you found that place when discerning God’s voice.
To order this resource from Leadership Transformations, Inc., click on the title for: Spiritual Discernment Retreat Guide, by Stephen Macchia.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) What big question are you wresting with? Might a half-day spiritual discernment retreat be a good investment?
2) Steve Macchia asks, “Is discernment only useful or needed when we’re at a significant crossroads? Is it possible that discernment could be an integral part of our daily spiritual life? I believe it can be.” What might that look like in your life? Macchia asks, “How often throughout your day are you aware of God’s movement and voice?”
Lessons to Learn Before Your Next Crisis - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
This issue’s big idea from Mastering the Management Buckets (Chapter 13, The Crisis Bucket) is that sooner or later, a crisis will knock you flat. Sadly and ironically, this chapter was next in line for this issue—the week Americans witnessed the tornado tragedies in Oklahoma.
Be prepared. There are procedures and protections common to all crises. World Vision has an Emergency Response and Disaster Mitigation (ERDM) team. Randy Strash, strategy director of the team, was interviewed on the subject for an article, “We’ve Got an Emergency: Essential Lessons Every Manager Needs to Learn Before a Crisis Hits.” It’s the inside story of how World Vision responded to the Southeast Asia tsunami disaster in 2004.
Click here to download the three-page article—and then discern if your organization is prepared for your next crisis.
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