Burnout

I always have millions of thoughts chasing each other around inside of my head. Sometimes they run into each other causing it to get even more jumbled inside of my brain then normal. Usually journaling gets the word crash cleaned up and moved to the side of the road. Some of those journals make it to the blog. Here is such a blog...



What is burnout? It's a dark candle that's scent lingers in your nose. It's standing on a heap feeling ash and glass under your feet, glimpsing at nothing and feeling great loss. It's wishing you had another minute to grab anything that would remind you of your previous life. Burnout at its' worst is death. It's the fire that consumes. The victim didn't get out in time. He didn't hear the smoke alarm. Or worse, he had no personal alarms to begin with.

It's the person whose tired. TIRED. Exhausted. Sad. Lonely. Burnout occurs when we convince ourselves we are in this alone and that we make or break the project. It's too much. It all explodes around us and eventually we are left sifting the rubble.

Working alone for a Christian is something God will not tolerate. He is the only way to reach His people. If we attempt anything without God, He will consume it. It will fail. If not immediately, then in the lake of fire after the world is introduced to Jesus a second and final time.

I cannot be passionate about something and burned out at the same time. Passion is a God given love and desire. Burnout is a going it alone and getting me no where feeling.

Boundaries are our smoke alarms. Our first boundary is the knowledge that if this is to happen, then God will make it happen, with or without me. He blesses me by allowing me to be a part, but if He's truly in it, it will happen. I'm not there by necessity, but by God's grace.

Our second boundary is motivation. If we are guilted into it, it is not passion. Anything done out of guilt is a smack to the Savior who makes us guiltless. If guilt is present, the alarm is gone. The flames are already burning your emotions to charcoal.

Our third boundary is sleep. Psalms 127:2 says "It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,To eat the bread of painful labors;For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep." God continues working while we sleep. God encourages us to rest. If He has given us a passion, our excitement should be the only thing waking us. If our stress, worry, or concern is, then God is sounding the alarm. If we don't sleep because of worry, we are probably not letting God be God. Ask God for the knowledge to rely on Him and allow Him to extinguish the match of worry.

The last boundary for tonight is love. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 13 that if we do anything without love, we are a clanging cymbal. My eighteen month old clangs cymbals. Nothing about it is pretty. It's loud, obnoxious, and irritating. My only focus is to make the noise stop. If we attempt anything without God's love~ I believe He hears a clanging cymbal. And...He is more then capable of making us get quite.

Psalm 121
The LORD the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of Ascents.
1I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
3He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.