Sometimes...

[WARNING: Whiny rant forthcoming] Sometimes I just really and truly dislike my job. It feels like I have so many hoops to jump through, so many differing expectations from parents, staff & kids, I don't think I'll ever get close to fulfilling them. And if I tried, I'd have no time to be with my wife or for myself. We had a satellite seminar yesterday - I'll give you 3 guesses on what it was about. Yup, leadership. One of the speakers said many pastors lack a good definition of success and instead rely on busy-ness as the measuring stick. Its the, "if I'm busy, I must be doing something right" mentality. To wit, my senior pastor has approximately 80 hours on his schedule this week - which is more than a typical week, but he usually puts in at least a few hours on days that are ostensibly supposed to be "off." Guess what? I don't. And I won't. My wife works full-time; I steadfastly refuse to sacrifice the one day off a week we have together for some stupid meeting or activity if it can possibly be avoided. But I have the feeling, when I hand in my little time card, that his schedule is the standard by which mine is judged. Not the content or quality of my teaching on Sunday mornings, nor the relationship I have with the kids - but whether or not I go to enough games or have enough appointments with kids during the week. Pah!