Review of Reset By @davidpmurray

You’ve heard of the blue car syndrome haven’t you? It’s when you buy a blue car—thinking there aren’t too many of them out there—and then noticing that everybody seems to drive a blue car. My experience with reading Christian books feels a bit like that blue car syndrome. I don’t know if publishers accidentally publish a handful of books on a particular topic in a given year, or if God is dealing with me in an area and I seem to notice lots of material on a particular topic.

Either way. Burnout has been my blue car lately.

It’d make sense because I’m still having a bit of difficulty transitioning into the role of lead pastor. Moving from the safety of an associate pastor in Southern Indiana to a lead pastor in Southwest Missouri, has left myself and my family a bit discombobulated at times. I have some symptoms of burnout and so I think God has graciously put these helpers in front of me.

One of these helpers has been Reset by David Murray. Over the past few years I’ve been convicted and encouraged by the works on pastoral ministry of Zack Eswine and Eugene Peterson. I’ve known for quite a season that I needed to slow down and that my wheels were spinning a bit too fast. The increasing frequency of my bouts of depression has been a warning sign to me that I need to look under the hood. But something I’ve been lacking, until Murray’s book, is an immensely practical tool to help me slow down.

Reset is convicting, balanced, grounded in the Word, but more than anything it is incredibly specific and practical. After reading this I genuinely believe that I’ve been given some tools in order to “live a graced pace life in a burnout culture”. Murray’s book takes the reader through ten repair bays. Some of them were far more needed in my life than others, but they are all very helpful.

I finished Reset a little over a month ago. I know that’s not a terribly long time to put some of these things into practice. But I’ve been attempting to put a few rhythms in my life that have helped. This book also led me down a path to purchase another helpful book—Deep Work by Cal Newport. Here are a few of the things I’ve started doing that I’ve seen benefit me.

1. Having specific and lengthy times when I put my phone down and disconnect.

2. Intentionally pursue being present in the moment.

3. Giving myself permission to actually pursue hobbies and things which help me relax and shut down.

4. Not doing intense deep work right before I go home for the day.

When I actually stick to doing these four things I have found tremendous help in my frame of mind. One of the most difficult things about these is that in order to pursue personal health you have to be okay with disappointing people. It isn’t that you are putting yourself above others—it’s that you are recognizing your God-given limitations. If people are disappointed because I have limitations that’s not on me.

There are a few things that I know that I need to put into action that Murray suggested but I’m finding myself having a difficult time doing. My diet and my exercise is one of the worst culprits to stealing my joy and contributing to burnout.

I also appreciate that Murray isn’t advocating for laziness or disengagement. This book is balanced. He acknowledges that there are seasons that are crazy and sometimes you do have to burn the candle on both ends. But those are meant to be seasons and brief seasons. Putting some of these caveats in the book helps me to feel like it is actually doable. It’s about pursuing a healthy pattern of living.

I’m still growing in this area and Murray’s book has been helpful for me in my growth.

You can purchase Reset here.