Burn Out

January 17

Genesis 32-33

Psalm 10:12-18

Proverbs 2:20-22

Matthew 11:20-30

Burn Out

“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 My burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  So why is it that we are so weary and burdened?  Most of the time we are stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, and tired.  Our lives are not characterized by rest and peace.  We are busy people.  Most of the things we fill our days with are not bad things.  Many of them are even good things.  If you look at your calendar in a typical week, you might find work, Bible study, volunteering at your child’s school, exercise (that probably wouldn’t be on my calendar), attending your child’s ballgame, taxiing children to soccer practice, piano lessons, youth group activities, a committee meeting at church, grocery shopping, cleaning house, another Bible study, church on Sunday, church on Wednesday night, doctor’s appointment, lunch with a friend, choir practice, date night with your spouse, and the list goes on and on and on and on.  If you take any of those things by themselves, they are harmless.  They don’t take a lot of time and energy and seem to be good things.  But when we put them all together, we end up exhausted and burned out.   We fill up every minute in our calendar and when someone asks us to do something else, we squeeze it in, too. 

Why do we do that?  I hate to admit it, but for me I think I have equated busyness with significance.  The more responsibility I have, the more things I am involved in, then the more important I am and the more significance my life has.  Ouch!  Did I just put that on paper?  If you asked me, I would argue vehemently that my significance and importance is based on my relationship with Jesus Christ and His work in and through me.  Unfortunately, I am afraid my calendar might suggest something else.  I think it is time for me (and maybe you) to take a long, hard look at the things I am doing with my time.  While they may very well be good things, are they the best things?  Am I using my time in the way that God wants me to use my time?  This verse promises that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light, so if I am filling my time with the things He wants me to be doing, I will be rested, and my life will be characterized by peace.  There may be periods of busyness and stress, but overall, my life will not be so hectic.   There is a little two-letter word I seemed to have forgotten how to use---NO!