• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Nancy Reece

Leading from a reservoir of calm

  • About
  • Testimonials
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Contact
  •  
You are here: Home / Blog

Blog

Only in Quiet

Nancy Reece · Apr 8, 2019 · Leave a Comment

woman beside quiet lake

Dan Webster taught me that there are things God does in the heart of a leader that only get done in quiet.   I’ve learned the value of getting away to experience solitude and quiet.  A few years ago, I went to Penuel Ridge with my friend, Sandra.  I wrote this in my journal just after I arrived.

O Lord, I am back where your spring flowers called to my soul. Now the gentle sunshine in a crisp fall afternoon falls on my face, bringing warmth and light. While I’m here please: 

  • Pour into me 
  • Soak into my heart
  • Seep into my being 
  • Penetrate my soul 
  • Drown my fears 
  • Illuminate my dark places
  • Mark my path 
[Read more…] about Only in Quiet

Real Rest. Really?

Nancy Reece · Mar 12, 2019 · 1 Comment

a guest blog by Teresa Moon

Laughter. The sound emanated from the mobile phone speaker, filling my office. This was the eighth phone conversation and the eighth response of incredulous laughter. Though I hadn’t expected it, I knew I had earned this response to my proposal.

I was proposing an organization-wide Rest and Renewal study. I called strategic team-leaders in my organization to pitch the project and to enlist their support. My objective: to complete the required research for my last doctoral course on the assigned topic, “Rest and Renewal,” and, of course, for my team to experience renewal in the process. 

My colleagues did not mean to insult me. They just didn’t see me as a “rest-and-renewal” kind of leader. I couldn’t blame them; I didn’t either. I was the responsible party, setting the break-neck tempo for my fast-paced, no-time-for-a-break, short-staffed, under-funded organizational culture. With each conversation, I wanted even more desperately for it to be different. 

I listened as my colleagues echoed many of my own excuses and arguments when challenged with the need for rest. “When we get through this launch…” “After the big event…” “When the kids go back to school…” “When the kids get out of school…” “When there’s more money…” “When I have more help…” The list is always as creative as it is long.

A growing body of research illustrates my fellow leaders and I were not unique. Studies suggest more than 50% of pastors and an even greater percentage of ministry family members experience burnout. “Compassion fatigue,” the result of chronic stress, is growing among mission and ministry leaders and workers. The literature links burnout, cynicism, disengagement, and compromise to the ignoring of our need for rest. 

So, why do we fight against our God-designed need for rest? We are familiar with his invitation: “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Our heads know his divine rest is accompanied by perfect peace. Yet both elude us. 

In my journey, I came to a significant realization: rest is about trust. When I follow the voices in my head calling me to work longer, harder, and faster, I am trusting myself. When I deny my need for sleep, off-the-grid times, Sabbath rest, and creative outlets, I am placing my trust in my own efforts. The more fatigued I become, the less compassionate I am. But when I trust my Creator, I trust His design. We were designed to flourish in rest. Rest is an act of trust. 

A dozen unrested, overwhelmed, and stressed-out colleagues joined me in my organization’s “Leadership Rest and Renewal Project.” We practiced and shared our personal insights about meditation and reflection, appreciation and affirmation. We kept sleep journals, experimented with 5-minute breaks, shared Sabbath-keeping rituals, and tried on new habits. We compared notes and discussed what did and did not work. We re-prioritized, re-focused, and ultimately found ourselves –  individually and collectively – renewed. 

My team made an important discovery: we’re better together. When we pursued rest together, we leaned on each other to help us make courageous decisions to practice real rest. We had attempted restingfromourwork. We were now beginning to work from our rest.We moved from an unhealthy habit and culture to a healthier one. It felt like Paul’s letter to the church in Rome had come to life for us: our minds were renewed and our behaviors transformed (Romans 12:2). 

I still talk about naps a lot more than I take them. I also hesitate to tell people the reason I’m not attending their meeting or function is that I need rest. But I do have a new outlook. I now value real rest. And my teammates no longer laugh at me for talking about it. 

When I first approached them with the project, God had been at work, planting in my teammates seeds of desire for real rest and renewal. As only the Divine can do, in the middle of our busiest season of organizational life, God “made [us] lie down in green pastures” and restored our individual and organizational souls (Ps. 23:2-3). The to-do lists have not disappeared. Many of us still struggle to prioritize rest. Yet, in the middle of near chaos, God loves me and, together with my co-laborers, delights in bringing me to “still waters.”

Dr. Teresa Moon, founding President and CEO of the Institute for Cultural Communicators, is an internationally-recognized seminar speaker, education consultant, author, and leadership coach. Each year, she travels globally equipping students, teachers, and parents to become “cultural communicators,” transforming ordinary students into extraordinary communicators and authentic leaders.  You can follow her blog here: http://teresamoon.org/real-rest-really

[Read more…] about Real Rest. Really?

The Trophy or The Towel: 5 Keys to Servant Leadership

Nancy Reece · Feb 15, 2019 · 1 Comment

5 Keys to Servant Leadership

Are you reaching for the trophy or the towel? A checklist for Christian business or ministry leaders that examines 5 keys to servant leadership.

I used to reach for trophies.  I set goals that included promotions, awards, recognitions, and things designed to advance my career.  Today I have a much deeper desire to pour into others through mentoring, coaching and discipling.    I call it reaching for the towel, and it’s an important question for the Christian business or ministry leader.  Jesus didn’t reach for trophies. He reached for a towel to wash his disciples’ feet. He modeled servant leadership.

[Read more…] about The Trophy or The Towel: 5 Keys to Servant Leadership

Do You Want a Reservoir of Calm?

Nancy Reece · Jan 9, 2019 · 2 Comments

retreat center penuel

There’s an app for that! I recently saw a commercial for an app called Calm. When you use it, it gives you 30 seconds of calming sound and music. While it’s a short term fix for stress, I’ve discovered how to have a reservoir of calm.

Six months into starting my own business, I had taken my eyes off Jesus and was consumed by fear. The dread of having to sell my services, a lack of consistent income, and a feeling of complete incompetence were themes playing in my head like a broken record. In the midst of this toxic swirl of fear, I began looking for a place to withdraw, to be with Jesus, away from the ever-present din of work and family responsibilities.

[Read more…] about Do You Want a Reservoir of Calm?

Saying NO to your iPhone

Nancy Reece · Mar 10, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Does this look like one of your workdays? You are at your desk, facing two computer screens. On one, the internet is open to do research, and the other screen has one of your four email accounts open (the other three notify you when a message arrives). You also have text messaging active, along with Google chat, in case someone at the office needs to connect. Around your neck is an LG Bluetooth stereo headset, ready for the next call that comes in on your iPhone; and iTunes is running in the background. Buried in the middle of all this technology is a project you are working on that’s due tomorrow. You’ve been working on it all week and just aren’t making the progress you thought you would, despite your skill in multi-tasking. [Read more…] about Saying NO to your iPhone

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Solitude, Silence & Rest (10)
  • Faith, Hope and Love (4)
  • Integrity First! (9)
  • Quirky Stuff! (2)
  • Uncategorized (1)

Archives

  • December 2020 (1)
  • October 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • June 2019 (1)
  • April 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • May 2015 (1)
  • March 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • September 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (1)
  • December 2012 (1)
  • May 2012 (1)
  • April 2011 (1)
  • March 2011 (1)
  • February 2011 (1)
  • October 2010 (1)
  • July 2010 (1)
  • June 2010 (1)

© 2021 Nancy Reece | Site designed by Growability Marketing