Beside Still Waters: Resources for Shepherds in the Market Place

"Beside Still Waters" completely surprised me. Psalm 1 was the picture in my mind--"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." I had no idea I was like the artificial tree in a basement apartment: colorful, needing no watering, but plastic and dead. My heart jolted when I read Muse's description of some clergy: "they have lost their zest and vitality. They have become dull, hollow, and uninteresting, and they know it." I expected a renewal of spirit when reading, "Beside still waters" but discovered I needed to repent first. I needed to repent for "trying to answer to everyone but God for everything but the one thing that was most important." The repentance came quickly when I realized I had been going about my service in much the wrong way. The repentance felt good; it was right; and it ushered in a new healing and wholeness that I had longed to experience. The desire to serve is so often borne out of a need to be loved, more than a desire to follow and obey the Master. I had forgotten how to say "No" and I so often confused my role with God's. There was another way, I learned. The One I so desperately loved wanted me to be myself. My humble service was bearing little fruit and I was growing weary. It was a freakish cycle of self-denial, disappointment, bitterness, guilt, and over and over. The more I worked the less satisfaction I felt and the more I resented those I was serving. Muse's timely research findings paint a grave picture for the hearts of church leadership: "Seventy percent of clergy say they have a lower self-image now than when they started the pastorate." His insightful application on keeping the Sabbath and spiritual self-care was clear and simple. "Sabbath", he said, "is a time to make being more important than doing; to stand back and let God's handiwork shine in all its glory and goodness." I could feel the beginning of renewal. The book is described as a "resource for shepherds in the market place" and yet it is so much more. It is a primer that could be incredibly formative for any divinity student preparing for service. It is a manual for deacon and elder boards as they fulfill their role in ministry and it is a meditation for pilgrims of all ages who are left wondering if something has been overlooked, if somehow the pursuit for pleasing Jesus could be less of a performance and more of a result of relationship. "Beside Still Waters" is truly a gift from the heart of a pilgrim who has discovered the joy of the Master.