The Balance of Head and Heart
I'm really enjoying reading through Ken Gire's book, "The Reflective Life". Ken's emphasis on learning to live reflectively is, to my mind, a welcome addition that might correct an imbalance that I perceive in the Christian Church these days.
It seems to me that there are a great many books on leadership issues – leadership styles, mission statements, forms and structures of Church life and ministry and so on. Yet it also seems to me – rightly or wrongly – that there is a corresponding dearth of books that are designed to nourish the soul. My plea is that we have both emphases – head and heart - but not one at the expense of the other.
Jesus talked about wineskins and new wine. The content and the container. We need both. What's the point in having a great new wineskin if it is largely empty? Yet, if we don't have a suitable container, we may just lose the new wine as it gushes out all over the floor. I guess my concern is that there is an imbalance of emphases at the moment. I look at the agendas of the latest conferences and they seem to be all about growth and goals, structures and strategies, methods and movements. Where is the corresponding focus on the nurturing of the leader's own spiritual well-being?
My concern probably reflects my own tendency to be a "doing" person rather than a "being" person – quick to action but slow to reflection. I suspect that over the years there is much that I have missed because I have not taken enough time for reflection because I have been too "busy doing the Lord's work"!!
