Hey Kirsten
Ever since I read your article and the questions at the end, they have haunted me. Mostly because, as you know, I have been there – trying so hard to do what I thought God wanted me to, asking those very questions over and over and in the end falling. So after a pretty long recovery and almost a year of being healthy I feel I finally have the perspective and hopefully some wisdom to truthfully answer, NO, God does not want you to be always tired. But he does call each of us to do special tasks in his name. The hard part is finding the balance.
We get so wrapped up in doing that we forget that being quiet and worshipping through prayer, meditation, rest, laughing etc. are just as pleasing to God as organizing new endeavors, starting a new position or editing a website. All are important, none are more important. Too often we think, if it hurts it must be good and right. The old evil Calvinist work ethic perhaps? Praising God in all of our life is easily warped into doing is good, doing more is better and then our busyness becomes an idol.
God loves me and you. There are NO conditions. He doesn’t love what you do, he accepts what we do as praise but his love for us does not depend on doing. Henri Nouwen says, “Being is more important than doing.” What a wonderful comfort that is when you are too physically and emotionally tired to do anything except look out a window and watch a squirrel in the snow. (Been there.)
But God also prepares things for us to do and in another the paradoxes that seem so a part of the Christian life, we are to be always busy in a life of praise for him as we find our rest in him. That a the hard thing, doing what he calls without completely overtaxing ourselves. But part of that is trust. Trusting him that he will provide the workers for the things he’s prepared – it MAY not be you.
“Can You Drink the Cup” by Henri Nouwen is a book that really helped me as I struggled with these issues. Just a quote from near the end,
“Whne we are committed to God’s will and not our own we soon discover that much of what we do doesn’t need to be done by us. What we are called to do are actions that bring us true joy and peace……..Actions that lead to overwork, exhaustion and burnout cannot praise and glorify God. What he calls us to do, we can do and do well.”
And I found this quote by Peter Scazzero (just wrote a book on burn out in church pasotrs) on the Chrisitanity Today website:
“We mistakenly thought that dying to ourselves for the sake of the gospel meant dying to self-care, to feelings of sadness, to anger, to grief, to doubt, to struggles, to our healthy dreams and desires,”
This is not easy and I know in my life, the thing that I think broke me is still something I am sure I had to do. But if anyone is feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the call they feel God has given them, I think it is time to really evaluate through Bibical study, prayer and meditation and talking to fellow believers if you are following the right path. Because Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and burden is light.”
cvk
Sep 24 2003
04:23 pm
Hey Kirsten
Ever since I read your article and the questions at the end, they have haunted me. Mostly because, as you know, I have been there – trying so hard to do what I thought God wanted me to, asking those very questions over and over and in the end falling. So after a pretty long recovery and almost a year of being healthy I feel I finally have the perspective and hopefully some wisdom to truthfully answer, NO, God does not want you to be always tired. But he does call each of us to do special tasks in his name. The hard part is finding the balance.
We get so wrapped up in doing that we forget that being quiet and worshipping through prayer, meditation, rest, laughing etc. are just as pleasing to God as organizing new endeavors, starting a new position or editing a website. All are important, none are more important. Too often we think, if it hurts it must be good and right. The old evil Calvinist work ethic perhaps? Praising God in all of our life is easily warped into doing is good, doing more is better and then our busyness becomes an idol.
God loves me and you. There are NO conditions. He doesn’t love what you do, he accepts what we do as praise but his love for us does not depend on doing. Henri Nouwen says, “Being is more important than doing.” What a wonderful comfort that is when you are too physically and emotionally tired to do anything except look out a window and watch a squirrel in the snow. (Been there.)
But God also prepares things for us to do and in another the paradoxes that seem so a part of the Christian life, we are to be always busy in a life of praise for him as we find our rest in him. That a the hard thing, doing what he calls without completely overtaxing ourselves. But part of that is trust. Trusting him that he will provide the workers for the things he’s prepared – it MAY not be you.
“Can You Drink the Cup” by Henri Nouwen is a book that really helped me as I struggled with these issues. Just a quote from near the end,
“Whne we are committed to God’s will and not our own we soon discover that much of what we do doesn’t need to be done by us. What we are called to do are actions that bring us true joy and peace……..Actions that lead to overwork, exhaustion and burnout cannot praise and glorify God. What he calls us to do, we can do and do well.”
And I found this quote by Peter Scazzero (just wrote a book on burn out in church pasotrs) on the Chrisitanity Today website:
“We mistakenly thought that dying to ourselves for the sake of the gospel meant dying to self-care, to feelings of sadness, to anger, to grief, to doubt, to struggles, to our healthy dreams and desires,”
This is not easy and I know in my life, the thing that I think broke me is still something I am sure I had to do. But if anyone is feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the call they feel God has given them, I think it is time to really evaluate through Bibical study, prayer and meditation and talking to fellow believers if you are following the right path. Because Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and burden is light.”