In my church, there are three pastors, including me. After the first service, the first pastor came to me and said, “I was really off today in the sermon, it just didn’t work.” And I let him know that we all have off-days, that I found his sermon really quite good, and there’s always next week. He seemed to cheer up. He remembered that this was not about himself anyway.

After my first service, I felt like my own sermon was way off. I had points that went nowhere, I started strong but finished weak, and a few people fell asleep. I beat myself up for a while over all the fumbles.

But it was strange that only an hour earlier, I was encouraging someone for the exact same reasons: and I forgot to encourage myself. I forgot to have grace for me. I forgot that we all have off-days, and hey: we always have next week. God is working, always. And it was never about me anyway.

— J