Recess: Rediscovering Play and Purpose

Twenty years into a successful career as a pastor in the United Methodist Church, Laurie Haller was burned out. In Laurie's words, she was "discouraged, bored, hopeless, depressed, beyond exhaustion, cynical, despairing, and numb." She had lost all sense of balance between her career, her family, and herself.

Then, she was awarded a Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal grant which gave her the opportunity to take a sabbatical from the demands of her ministry and even her family life. Wh...