As a full time youth worker, I sometimes spent too much time in the office. Too much time in the office lead to more paper work and less inspiration.
As I started to get our more, my creativity increased. Manual labor takes me away from the mundane and gets me foccused on one task, like blowing leaves.
Blowing leaves is simple. Most blowers are point and shoot. It’s not complicated. I don’t have any scientific evidence for this but let me tell you my theory. The simpler the task, the less my brain has to work.
Youth ministry is filled with 100 moving parts like relationships, volunteers, kids in trouble, dealing with your pastor, etc. Sitting in your office, you have no choice but to let these 100 moving parts cycle through your brain like a ViewMaster.
During my time blowing leaves I thought of this blog post. Why? I had nothing else to think about. My brain just ran free. I blew leaves for a few hours, sweated my stress away, and came up with a few new resource ideas.
I know, I know, many of us became youth pastors to stay away from manual labor and sweating. When you have reached your stress point or the bottom of your creativity barrel, try grabbing a leaf blower, it might just jog the best idea you’ve ever had.