In Tense

Bills to pay. Meals to make. Meetings to go to. Laundry to fold. Dishes to wash. Phone calls. Interruptions. Demands. Expectations. We find outselves trying to be all things to all people. Tension builds, like a rubber band being pulled farther and farther from it's anchor point.

Then we hear that there's something more we need to be doing in our Christian life, and our first reaction is to burst into tears. We don't want to stretch this rubber band any more. We know there's a breaking point. We know that when it does break, the recoil might be very painful.

So what do we do with our call to disciple those younger than us? How do we women keep from multi-tasking ourselves to death?

In Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Ruth Haley Barton captured some of what I struggle with as I look at the challenges of discipling girls. As she lists tensions leaders experiences, she observes, "There is the tension between the need for an easy discipleship process through which we can efficiently herd lots of people and the patient, plodding and ultimately mysterious nature of the spiritual transformation process."

Her answers to those tensions? An intense concentration on our relationship with God. Only through disciplines that nourish our own souls can be find the strength to nourish others. Then, she says, "we will have bread to offer that is warm from the oven of our intimacy with God."