Read

A voice said 'Read' and I said 'What shall I read? There are too many books and I shall not have time to read them all.'

I am sitting in what is now known as my sabbatical chair. For many weeks last autumn I had the rare privilege of being able to read widely, well and without pressure.

Today is a long-diaried reading day, something I try to do monthly but about eight a year actually happen. It is the first since I returned to duties before Christmas. After the joy of reading without deadline today feels too short. It has taken me three hours to get to a point where the past is sufficiently reviewed and the future sufficiently planned for me to relax. Then I had to pick the books to get into. Done now.

I only chose to write this because one of the skills of a role where the job description is a bottomless pit (clergy always have something they could be doing) is to unashamedly take down-time whenever it comes along. Those clergy who can actually work from 7.00 a.m. to midnight six days a week without something giving are very unusual. I have avoided that ever since my second post in Chester-le-Street when my things-to-do list got so big I couldn't read all the tasks in one sitting.

So despite a lot to do tomorrow, which could be started today, I am going to read for a few hours now without guilt. It will give me a better ability to do more in less time in future. For I will know things I won't have to look up; I will have access to quotes and examples for talks which will save preparation time and, perhaps most importantly, I will feel better.