Summer Speed and the Way of Jesus
Jesus was often busy, but He was not hurried.
If you’re reading this in June or July, you’re probably deep into project-based work.
You’re preparing for the next school year. Curriculum is being ordered. Master schedules are being built. Strategic plans are being refined. Interviews are taking place. New initiatives are being discussed. In many ways, the work of summer carries more long-term significance than much of the day-to-day management that takes place during the school year. Decisions made during these months often shape the experience of students, families, and staff for years to come.
Yet despite the importance of the work, summer often feels different.
Many leaders find themselves sleeping a little better. They exercise more consistently. Their blood pressure drops. The tension headaches that appeared regularly during the school year seem to disappear. Conversations become less rushed. There is time to think, reflect, and pray.
Why?
Part of the answer is certainly that the calendar is different. Summer generally contains fewer meetings, fewer interruptions, and fewer immediate demands. But I wonder if there is something deeper happening.
Most of us entered leadership because we care deeply about serving people and advancing a mission. At the same time, many leaders are achievers by nature. We are problem solvers. We are the people who step forward when something needs to be done. We carry responsibility seriously and often take ownership of challenges that others are unwilling to address.
Over time, however, that strength can become a burden.
Without realizing it, we begin carrying more than our role requires. We absorb the pressures of the organization. We take responsibility for problems that belong to others. We attempt to solve every issue, answer every question, and manage every concern. Eventually, leadership becomes less about guiding people and more about carrying weight.
The school year has a way of accelerating this tendency.
August arrives, and suddenly we are moving from one meeting to the next, one problem to the next, one decision to the next. There is little margin to think deeply because there is always something demanding immediate attention. We become highly productive, but not always highly present. We remain busy, yet often lose the ability to notice what is happening in our own souls and in the lives of the people we lead.
Dallas Willard often spoke about the importance of eliminating hurry from our lives. His concern was never that people were working too hard. His concern was that hurry changes the way we experience life with God and others. It narrows our attention and makes it difficult to remain present. Instead of listening, noticing, and discerning, we simply react to the next demand in front of us.
One of the things that strikes me when reading the Gospels is how rarely Jesus appears hurried.
Crowds pressed in around Him. People needed healing. Religious leaders challenged Him. His disciples constantly misunderstood Him. Demands for His attention seemed endless. Yet Jesus consistently moved at a human pace. He stopped for interruptions. He noticed individuals in the crowd. He took time for conversations. He withdrew to pray. He even slept in a boat during a storm.
In Mark 1, while people were actively searching for Him and ministry opportunities were multiplying, Jesus withdrew to pray and then moved according to the Father’s direction rather than the urgency of the crowd. In Mark 5, while on the way to heal Jairus’ dying daughter, Jesus stopped to care for a woman in need along the way. What others may have viewed as an interruption, Jesus viewed as a person.
Jesus was often busy, but He was not hurried.
That distinction is important for leaders. Many of us assume that hurry is simply the cost of responsibility. We convince ourselves that pressure, exhaustion, and constant urgency are evidence that we are carrying an important mission. Yet the One carrying the most important mission in human history never seemed driven by the frantic pace that so often defines modern leadership.
Perhaps that is because Jesus was never attempting to do everything. He was doing what the Father had given Him to do.
What I appreciate about summer is that it reminds us that another pace is possible.
Not a pace without work. Most school leaders are working hard throughout the summer. But there is often more room to think, pray, listen, and notice. We become less consumed by the urgent and more attentive to what matters most.
As we prepare schedules, budgets, calendars, staffing plans, and strategic initiatives for another year, perhaps the most important preparation is allowing God to reshape the pace at which we lead.
Pay attention to how you feel during these months. Notice what contributes to a healthier pace. Notice what helps you remain present with God and with people. Then ask what it would look like to carry some of those lessons into October or February.
Let summer remind us that living in the kingdom of God often requires a different pace than most leadership calendars allow.