Me, Jesus and a piano - The Percentage Ratio

I remember when I was on staff as worship pastor at my church we did an exercise that has proved valuable even to this day. We were asked to write down in percentage form how much we spent doing what each week.

It came as a shock to me that 85% of my whole role was spent on the platform – worship leading, playing keyboards, rehearsing, speaking. I was quite surprised. I had become so used to spending my life on a stage that it had become a normal and acceptable way to do ministry. Without realizing it, most of my ‘moments’ with God were on the platform. This was not intentional, but as a young mother, traveling in ministry, it was often hard to spend alot of alone time with God away from platform ministry.

What also came as a surprise was that another 10% of my role was administration – emails, rosters, phone calls. (don’t know if that will ever change, but it doesn’t mean I can’t hate it!!!) The remaining 5% of my time was spent on the creative elements – songwriting, advancing my prophetic gifting, brainstorming. This 5% was the reason I was intitially employed by the church, but it had the least of my attention. I’m sure it is no surprise to you that I became quite stressed and empty.

Now, I make sure those percentages are in the right balance. If I am spending more time on a platform than I am with the Lord, I know I need to make changes. This is a constant balancing act because the demands of ministry and travel are high for me at the moment. But I no longer have a problem saying no. For me, the time I spend writing etc is prayer time. It fills me up when it’s just me, Jesus and a piano. He talks to me – my songs become my prayers, and sometimes even my answers because He has the space to speak. I know it wont always be easy to live this way and it will demand will power and discipline, but I believe it is absolutely necessary to my growth as a God-artist.

It does not matter what creative endeavors you embark upon. If you are a lover of God, it does not matter whether you are a worship leader or a professional musician, a painter, dancer, poet, editor, journalist. To be effective as a public person you need to always be investing in the private person.

Psalm 46:10 “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”