Pastor, Pastor Thyself: Part II – Creative Soul-Tending for Weary Shepherds

Last week I wrote a blog post – on pastor burnout, on Pastoring Yourself – in Part I, I named the hard truth: pastors are burning out, bleeding out, and bowing out at staggering rates. I think you all know what I  named – the grind of ministry, the pressure of performance, the competition where there should be collegiality, and the crushing weight of systems like the United Methodist one-year appointment cycle. I made the case for why self-pastoring isn’t just important—it’s essential.

But now, let’s move from the “why” to the “how” with a little more imagination. Because let’s be honest: we’ve all heard the usual advice I named in the previous post. Take a Sabbath. Go to therapy. Drink water. These are good and necessary. But what if our souls are craving something deeper, more creative, more embodied?

This post is for those of us who are tired of bullet points that feel like to-do lists. It’s for the ones whose hearts are still tender enough to believe that joy, mystery, and presence are part of the call. So here are fresh ways to pastor yourself—not for survival, but for soulful, sacred resistance.

Not sermon prep. Not newsletter writing. Just you, a journal, and God—writing as if you’re having a conversation with your calling.

Try prompts like:

• “God, here’s what I can’t say out loud…”
• “Today I felt more like a chaplain to decline than a midwife to resurrection.”
• “I saw beauty today in…”

Let the page hold what your pulpit can’t.

Host a half-day creative retreat—no lectionary, no leadership development. Just old magazines, glue sticks, scissors, and silence. Create from intuition. Ask:

• What is God revealing to me about my identity beyond my title?
• What dreams have I buried?

Let the Holy Spirit show up in paper and paste.

Set a simple table. Light a candle. Speak the liturgy slowly. Break the bread. Drink the cup. Just you and Jesus.

Receive what you so often give.

Get in your car and drive with no purpose other than presence. No podcasts. No planning. No praying for the church.

Let the road unclench your soul. Let the silence surprise you.

Use fragrant oil. Lavender. Frankincense. Olive.

Stand in front of a mirror and say aloud:

• “You are beloved.”
• “You are not your metrics.”
• “You are enough.”

Sometimes the anointing we long for needs to come from our own trembling hands.

Choose a regular time block—weekly, biweekly, monthly—where you are unreachable. But here’s the twist: do something unrelated to ministry, and don’t tell anyone what it is.

• Take a pottery class.
• Build Lego.
• Go birdwatching.

Protect part of your life from being consumed by your role.

Find a peer outside your chain of supervision. Meet monthly.

Use a rhythm:

• What brought life?
• What brought weight?
• What needs releasing?

Not a mentor. Not a boss. A fellow sojourner.

Forget productivity. Build your rhythm around joy:

• One delight for your body (a hike, a hot tub, a nap).
• One for your mind (an obscure documentary, a new recipe).
• One for your soul (playlist curation, spontaneous prayer walks).

Track your delight, not just your deadlines.

9. Create

Find a creative outlet! In the past couple of years I have tackled learning things I always wanted to learn – for only the joy of learning! I took pottery classes and learned to throw pottery on a wheel. I took a stained glass class and learned to create stained glass. For me, I am moving toward creating my stained glass studio and having a space of my own to create.

I am also taking time to enjoy my hot tub each evening – true down time – if only for 30 minutes.

Pastoring yourself won’t always look holy. It might look like messy art supplies, silent roads, or ugly crying in your car. It might look like saying “no” to one more thing. It might look like dancing alone in your kitchen or floating in the ocean.

But in a world (and a church) that demands our output, reclaiming our soul is a radical act.

So pastor, pastor thyself. Not just so you can keep going. But because you are worth pastoring too.