I will never forget my first Easter Sunday as a solo pastor.  It was a tiring week of preparation for the most important day of the year in the church calendar.   Pastoral and administrative duties, new and special traditions, extra attention to bulletin and worship preparation, and even a funeral that weekend.

But here’s what I remember.  It was Saturday evening.  The kids had gone to bed.  And the sermon wasn’t finished.  No, that’s not how I remember it.  The sermon was barely started.  The next day’s crowd would be large and eager, from regulars anticipating a fresh word to a larger-than-usual percentage of the unchurched and the partially convinced.

And I didn’t know what I was going to tell them.  On Easter Sunday! 

How could something so important to that week get pushed so far down on my priority list?  I now think I know how.

One by one during the past five years, all three of our children – now ranging in age from 21 to 28, have realized they do fight or have struggled with Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder.    For most of their lives, I didn’t know.

ADD or ADHD has a strong genetic component. For many reasons, I never thought about the possibility that I may have ADHD.  Until now.  Even now, I don’t think I need a formal diagnosis or treatment. 

But it sure does explain a lot to me, and maybe it will help you as well.

ADD is not a simple diagnosis.  Its manifestations emerge at different times of life and in different ways.  My symptoms and treatments will not be the same as those of my children, nor theirs the same as other young adults or kids.  A leading book on the subject, Healing ADD (Daniel Amen), identifies six types of ADD.

The most common type – attention deficit combined with hyperactivity – includes symptoms like the failure to prioritize and complete tasks, restlessness, procrastination, distractibility, and compulsiveness.

If you know me, some of that list will not surprise you.  The part about failure to complete tasks, though, didn’t sound like me even to me - until I thought about that first Easter sermon.

What I realized is that I have discovered and utilized some important coping and compensating strategies over the years to make pastoring with ADHD work.  More on that next week.