Burnout is a sneaky problem, because we, so many times fail to see it at all.
About a half-year into my experience here in FL, things had honestly gotten rough: I had no close relationships outside my immediate family, no home church, and school everyday. Any free time I had was spent on odd jobs and teaching. I was rest-less.
I regularly attended a bi-monthly Friday Bible Study, but with a sense of disappointment: I was preaching at different churches every Sunday with none to call home. Expressing
general frustration about my life to a brother present, he made the most radical suggestion:
“Maybe you should quit”
“Quit?” My mind couldn't grasp the concept. I was a servant of the Most High God in a world going to Hell with the speed of a rocket pack strapped to its back. How could I leave my responsibilities? His answer was simple:
“If you keep going like this, you're gonna break”
He was right: I was as critical as an Olympic gymnastics judge and as miserable as a movie theater-mopper.
I told him that he made a good point and I later asked God about it. That night, God gave me two visions affirming my exit from two monthly engagements. So, I woke up, called up both leaders...AND QUIT.
Faith without works is dead, but works without faith (and rest) makes a zombie.
Some of you can't even fathom the move of quitting. Even reading this, some of you will brush it off, but consider this truth: “All extremes are dysfunctional.”
Sometimes we construct for ourselves a world, a world of half-microwaved phrases—“winners never quit,” “quitters never win,” and “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”—a world of extremes, fantasy, and carelessness.
A wise man once said that in ministry and life there will be five “no's” for every “yes,” which means we can't do everything for everyone.
Is your time being used wisely? What is motivating your decisions to overload: is it passion for what God is doing or guilt for what you are not?
“Your day is a well, you only have 24 hours to draw from. At the end of the day, it will be gone.
Life is not always a choice between bad and good, but often between good and better”
-T. Dilena
In my situation, I was only supplementing what established leaders were doing weekly. I still kept my preaching gigs at churches by the university and other ministry commitments; it just became clear where I was needed. In the other locales, the leadership didn't want me there (for theological differences), the students were unresponsive and my times to speak were regularly canceled. I firmly believe in work that is hard and worthwhile, but work that's pointless...no thanks.
Be motivated by the Holy Spirit and seeing people's lives change, not guilt. Remember that you are not Jesus, and even He took a break (Mark 7:24)
“a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away '
-Ecclesiastes 3:5-6
In Him,
Jean-Marc
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