Burnout: Finding Strength

We all have or will experience burnout at some time in some area of our life. Burnout occurs in our careers, our relationships, and even in our faith. Life causes us to become tired, weary, frustrated, and hopeless. Sometimes we need a good night or a good week of rest. We shouldn’t make life altering decisions when we are tired and worn out. We need to get away and rest physically, mentally, and spiritually. We also need to take care of our physical bodies, our mind and our spirit. But others times we need more. One of the deceptions of burnout is we think we can handle it all on our own. For some of us the hardest thing to ever do is to ask someone else for help. Burnout convinces us that if we just work harder, buckle down, and press on we will be just fine. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If we are in the middle of a season of burnout, more work or more pressure only aspirates the problem. The truth is regardless of how strong we think we are, none of us are self-sufficient. We all need spiritual resources to live our lives. However for many of us, when burnout occurs we shy away from where we know the presences of God might reside. We try to distance ourselves for the spiritual resources we need to find the strength to move forward through this tough season of burnout. We need strength.  The strength we don’t have but we need comes from overcoming our vulnerability, overcoming our weakness, and overcoming our fear.  I have witnessed a lot of lives ruined, bad decisions made, and destruction when people reacted out of fear, desperation, and frailty. The natural thing to do is to run and hide from the one true God that can provide for us the strength we need. We can immerse ourselves into a faith community and find strength in the fellowship, comfort and sanctuary that only a faith community can provide. We must be willing to be open to listening and learning of all the diverse ways God works in our midst. It is in community we find unity in numbers and shared experiences. It is in faith community we witness God work in both miraculous heroic ways and in that still small voice of love and comfort. If you are going through a season of burnout in your relationships, your career, or in your faith journey, you will find strength in a faith community that is listening and open to God’s presences. May you find the peace, hope and strength you need to move forward through your season of burnout.

Peace, Love and Happiness

Tommy