Thanks-Giving Experiment: 4 Ways to Avoid BurnOut

“My Yoke is Easy and My Burden is Light” - Matthew 11:30

This month, we’re dishing out the “thanks” everywhere we go! We’re liberally and deliberately turning our asking-God-for-things in prayer—which is a good thing, but for this experiment, we’re taking God at his word that He knows what we need before we ask—to thanking Him more, then saying “thanks” to people, all sorts of people. It’s a blitz of thanks-giving. Woot! Woot!

What have you noticed? Do you feel any different? I’d love to hear from you.

Recently, Danielle from Pennsylvania asked me to comment on burnout when there are so many people around us who are in real trouble, in desperate need of love and life.

“How do you turn off the burden?” she asked.

I thought this time of year is a fantastic time to address burnout. Many of us carry not only the burden of a sick or challenged child, church, and people who don’t know the love of God through Christ, but we carry the burden of our extended family. And now’s the time of year this gets exacerbated.

Danielle, first of all, thank you for aligning your heart to God’s heart. Thank you for caring about people. And thank you for your question.

I’d be a hypocrite if I said I’m really good at this. I’m not especially good at it. But so far, here’s how I handle the burdens that come with people:

1. Pick up what is yours. At the start of the day, and all throughout, I pray: “God, help me to pick up today only what you require I pick up. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Seriously, I think many of us that think and feel the way you do, Danielle, are often doing a heap of things God never asked us to do. He’s like, “What are you doing working on that, when I never asked you to be involved?” 

Then I put down what doesn’t fit my mission. I lay down or won’t pick up in the first place what seems to me, too much. (I’m not a counselor, for example. I don’t wish to be one. Nor do I mentor the way I used to. I need to be available to my teams and family in this way, not the broader world.)

2. Don’t try too hard.

This is a phrase I just always need. Because I can epitomize, “trying too hard.” I can have that “Messiah” complex. (“If I don’t, who will? They need someone. Who will go?”) If you’re thinking those things, you’re probably already active in spending yourself and caring deeply. You’ve got that in spades. You’re probably also the kind of person people tend to ask for help. “Yes” feels good on your lips.
So remember:

• Jesus wept over Jerusalem and the state of affairs of His people.

• Jesus was moved with compassion to act, to bring heaven to earth.

• Jesus went to the hardest areas, to the hardest people—demon possessed, sick, blind, lame, prostitutes, you name it—all the while training His disciples, and dealing with pompous religious leaders that were breathing down His neck.

And while doing all that, He said to His disciples then and says to us today, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If I’m constantly feeling the heaviness of the broken world or the people groping in the dark, I’ve emotionally swapped places with God who truly cares more about these then I ever will. I have to ask myself, “Is there more wrapped up in this than I know, Lord?”

3. You take it, Lord. But when I feel overwhelmed, and sometimes I really do, I actually sit with God, and I imagine I hold in my hands all the things I carry inside: My son, David; the decline of the church in North America; leaders I strongly disagree with; building a ministry; my marriage; and I go through the physical act of placing them into God’s hands. “Take…” and I list them all, one by one.

4. I pull back and rest. I’m a speaker now, but I was a singer first. I know a thing or two about music and caring for the voice. If you sing fortissimo (very loud), and put a lot of pressure on the voice, at some point, you better rest it. Sing piano (soft). Pause. Rest. Physically get aligned and grounded again. One reason is you’ll ruin your voice if you keep going. Another reason is you’ll assault your listeners. I rest when I need rest. I rest on Sunday, nap and all (teach your children that now), I rest on weekends unless I’m traveling for speaking, then I try to rest after that.

I hope this is helpful, Danielle. I’m grateful you asked.

I’m real because God is so real.

~ Nancy 

CALLING

As you prepare for Thanksgiving, build in speed bumps. And give thanks for each one.