Spiritual Burnout by Jan Christiansen

Yesterday my husband and I were baking a couple of pot pies when all of a sudden we heard loud popping sounds. Looking toward the kitchen we saw what looked like fireworks going off in our oven. I started yelling, “Turn it off! Turn it off!” while Mr. Lee ran toward the kitchen and threw open the oven door before shutting the thing off. It was truly frightening. The back corner of the oven was on fire. The heating element had burned and melted nearly all the way through.

My heart was pounding! Fortunately, the pot pies were done.

Seriously, it was scary, but today I started thinking about how many times I’ve found myself feeling like I was going to spontaneously combust just like that oven did. Of course, it’s always at a time when I’ve over-committed myself, taken on too much and pushed myself too hard. I’ve ignored the early warning signs like forgetting things that are important, making silly mistakes and snapping at others because I’m all stressed out. It’s not until I’m at the end of my rope and ready to run away screaming that it occurs to me that I’ve gotten so busy that I’ve pretty much squeezed God right out of my daily life.

Oh, I still love Him, but I just don’t have time for more than a whiney prayer asking Him why He’s not stepping in to help me. 

That’s spiritual burnout – being so busy doing “God’s work” that you’re too busy to spend time with the Lord, Himself. Sad, huh?

Fortunately, I’m learning the value of giving myself time to pray and consider each new opportunity before making a commitment and I’ve learned that it’s okay to say “no” to good things in order to preserve time for the most important things.

How about you? Do you ever experience spiritual burnout? How do you avoid it or how do you handle it when you find yourself in that place?

 Photo Credit: shoothead via photopin cc

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Jan writes at She Fancied Herself a Writer and Fellowship of Christian Bloggers... among other places...