Less is More

Recently I read an article quoting a priest saying that the less he did the better things were (of course I paraphrase) and frustratingly I can't find it to pass on.  I remembered it when I was talking about how if we take on something new we have to drop something to make space for it and was then reminded of my experience at work.

Obviously if your job is to make things or physically do something then less is not more!  Although perhaps the better athletes can achieve more with less - they always said that Teddy Sheringham beat people in his head.  However, I was latterly a manager and my job was to achieve things through other people.  When I discovered my vocation and starting training for the priesthood (whilst working full time) I found that I cut back the hours that I did (still exceeding my contracted hours), and yet I also felt that I was more effective than when I had been busier myself.  Similarly whilst I was working my notice, having been made redundant, I found that by doing less myself, as I handed over my responsibilities to others, and empowering those who worked for me, I got complimented for the work that I was doing.

As a priest it can be tempting to do too much - after all I am the one who doesn't have another job to do.  But, as at work, where I realised that doing the right thing was so much easier than forcing through the wrong thing, so in the church - if it is worth doing then others will chip in, and if they don't then perhaps it is the wrong thing to be doing!