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By Kathy Carlton Willis—
Feeling burned out? It’s not a great way to start the new year, is it? Recently, a different perspective dawned on me about being burned out. What if it’s not in doing too much that we risk burning out, but it’s in being burned by people during the doing of it? Let me explain by sharing an example.
Our new student outreach pastor and wife hit the ground running when they came to our church. Barely scheduling a breather. Several said, “Don’t do too much or you’ll burn out.” I spoke up for them and said I didn’t think they’d burn out by doing too much, because I never did when I was their age in ministry.
That’s when I realized, every time I felt burned out, it wasn’t when I was doing too much, but it was when I sacrificed all to serve in the passion and purpose God gave me—and in the process, someone chose to hurt me.
My husband and I had the same level of passion for ministry, burden for souls, and energy to get it done when we were young as our new student pastor and wife. Did that energy and zeal come from being so young? Maybe the older we get, the less energy we have? I don’t think getting older had anything to do with our waning zeal. It was the accumulation of negative life experiences that influenced my passion. The more hurtful situations I endured, the more it wore down my excitement to serve. The more I was burned, the more I played it safe. The more they wounded me during my sacrifice of self, the less I sacrificed self. I’m not proud of it, simply admitting the flaw of being a human minister.
Sacrifice requires a burnt offering, but it shouldn’t be the one serving the Lord who gets burned. What should burn is the passion. Burning passion is refreshing. Burned out—not so much.
Before we’ve been burned repeatedly by others, there’s plenty of energy and a spirit of, “just try to stop me!” It’s easy to want to burn the candle at both ends. Don’t worry about the overdoing it kind of burn-out because the body knows when to slow down to refresh for physical or mental reasons. Often people are fueled by doing one exciting thing, which motivates them to do another, and less rest is required.
It’s not in doing too much that we risk burning out, it’s in being burned by people during the doing of it.
Once we’ve been burned by others, how can we get that exuberant passion back? For me, it starts with rekindling my concern for people to turn to God and away from self, sin, and situations. Receiving the love of the Good News of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection. Seeing that power transform lives always reenergizes me and causes me to be willing to risk again. And…getting my eyes off of self. I have to quit taking my own pulse (checking if I’ve recovered from my wounds), and instead take the pulse of the life project in which God has placed me.
We can regain our zeal when we quit playing it safe to avoid being hurt by others.
Here’s the recipe for renewed zeal:
- When we have our eyes on Jesus and not on our wounds, we’ll be ready to get back in the battle again.
- When we grace others with the benefit of the doubt, we experience a healing that doesn’t keep a record of the wrongdoings committed and we recover from the sting of the wound.
- When our motive is to help others and not care who gets the credit, we can make a difference in this world.
- When we remind ourselves why we do what we do, and count the cost, any hits we take along the way are worth it.
- When we use our life experience as a resource to minister to others rather than a pool to hold all our pain from years of service, we will be equipped to move forward—not burned out, not burned by others, but burning with passion, on fire for God!
Will you let go of any pain inflicted by others and recommit to being 100% invested in serving God? Don’t worry about where your pain goes when you let it go. God recycles it. He never wastes your wounds. He builds your story. Like a unique snowflake, only you have your story. And God will use it to impact others.
Use YOUR story for HIS glory!
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Kathy Carlton Willis: Kathy writes and speaks with a balance of funny and faith—whimsy and wisdom. Not many funny girls also have Bible degrees! As a pastor’s wife, she has plenty of material for her new Grin with Kathy column at MPN. She has four books coming out in the next couple of years: Speaker to Speaker, Grin with Grace, Grin with Joy, and Grin with Peace. She’s affiliated with several Christian writer and speaker organizations and serves as a consultant for others in the publishing industry. Kathy anticipates great things for her 50s (despite the menopause monster), and is pursuing God’s goals with gusto as she dives in to this glorious decade. Kathy’s tagline captures her essence: Light & Lively: His Reflection/Her Laughter. Learn more about Kathy at: www.kathycarltonwillis.com/
Your assessment is right on. Pain from the hurt others inflict while serving the Lord really hurts. I find giving them the benefit of the doubt helps me a lot. Don’t hold on to the pain. Sometimes not so easy to do. Thank you.
Linda, that’s great advice! When someone hurts me I also ask God to show me His love for them so I can love them w/ no expectations or strings attached—even when it hurts.
Great article and very timely. I posted it to my blog geared toward pastor’s wives.
A dear friend once told me “ministry is messy.” Love your thought about keeping our eyes on Jesus and not our wounds. We have to remember the enemy can’t have us but he can discourage us and reminding us of our wounds is a great tool. Thanks for sharing.
Mona, I’ll have to remember that: “Ministry is messy.” Indeed it is! But thankfully it’s also a blessing. So rewarding to experience one God-moment after another. And just when you think you’re making no impact on anyone of a transformational nature, progress is revealed! But there are zingers along the way. Certainly keeps me prayed up!
I am a day or two late in commenting, but…OH MY! This was a brilliant and timely post, my friend.
Penny, thanks so much! It was quite a revelation when I realized what really causes me to feel burned out. The “doing” often fuels me. It’s receiving wounds that does me in. But I still have a choice what I do (or think or pray) to stay energized for ministry, even when it hurts. I’m sure you’ve experienced this firsthand!