If you’re like me, your life is crazy. We play a virtual game of Simon Says with our calendars. Calendar says, “Get your kids to school.” Calendar says, “Pick up dry cleaning.” Just when you don’t think you can fit another thing into your already busy life, your kid makes the basketball team and your boss assigns you an extra project. Perhaps you can relate? The juggling of priorities and commitments is difficult, especially when you’re a LifeGroup Leader. You recognize that people are counting on you to be consistent, to open your home, and create a space for people to be needed and known.
However, there are other people counting on you, too. Your kids are counting on you being at their game. Your boss is counting on that project being on her desk by tomorrow morning.
What do you do when life’s too busy for LifeGroup?
- Talk about it. When your calendar is becoming a challenge, share that with your LifeGroup. That’s what they’re there for, right? We share our joys and our burdens with each other. When we talk about it openly, we present an opportunity for others in our group to step up and provide solutions. Maybe somebody else can lead for a week or so. Maybe somebody else can host in your absence. We’ll never know if we don’t ask.
- Plan ahead. Nobody likes last-minute cancellations. Our LifeGroups are full of people with busy schedules, and we want to respect their time as well. If you know you aren’t going to be able to meet, talk about it. If there’s not another solution, then go ahead and cancel for the week. It’s okay. Pick a Bible Plan and use the Plans with Friends feature to go through it together until you meet up again.
- Give yourself grace. You’re not a bad leader. Sometimes life just gets busy. The point of a LifeGroup is making friends—and sometimes friends have to cancel on each other. It happens. You’re still friends. Besides, a great LifeGroup communicates with each other throughout the week, not just Tuesdays at 7pm.
You won’t always be this busy. Allow your LifeGroup to really be what it is: a group of friends ready to come alongside you in this season.
