Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

This weekend we had a party at my apartment and so I spent a bit of time cleaning the apartment, tidying up before and after the party. At work, too, as I’ve become busy and my desk has slowly been engulfed by paper printouts, I’ve had to make sure to take a little time to organize myself. 

Everybody is a little busier this time of year. Church programs are starting up, families are returning from summer vacations, and Sunday school is starting up again. We often remember spring cleaning, but it’s also important to do a little fall cleaning at this busy time in the church year. This goes for our physical space, our to-do lists, and our relationships.
 

Mess is inevitable, and the busier we are the bigger the mess (perhaps there are some who can live and work without making a mess, but I’m certainly not one of those people). If you’re anything like me, during busy times cleaning and organizing sometimes fall by the wayside. They feel less important than the next bill to pay or the email I haven’t yet answered. Especially when I was a parish administrator, I learned that thinking like this was a mistake. The mess accumulates and can cause headaches when you’re looking for a document or a letter in messy drawers and stacks of papers. 

As people get busy and a little more stressed and more decisions need to be made, things will get messy in another sense as well. Feelings will get hurt, misunderstandings will happen. It is during these busy times that it's tempting to ignore interpersonal problems because there are more pressing things to take care of. Caring for relationships takes time and attention, and we only have so much of either. Yet it's during these times that's it's important to care for our relationships and handle misunderstandings and hurt feelings or disappointments with clear communication and probably a bit of forgiveness. Otherwise they build up and can become larger problems. 

Life makes a mess, and the busier we are, the more important it is to take time to keep our houses in order. Perhaps this is obvious to some, but it’s something I must remind myself of every year when I get busy.