An Early Warning System for Burn Out

"Mam-Maw's up!" my hubby teased when I stumbled into the kitchen one morning last fall. I had fallen asleep before the sun relinquished rights to the day. Any chance I was bordering on burn out?

Burn out sneaks into your heart and home as stealthily as a shadow. It moves the front of your emotions and spirit an inch at a time. So sloth-like is its attack, you find yourself surrounded by darkness before you register the first symptom. Like a coastal town, we need an early warning system.

Early

Early in my day I tend the fields of my own heart. I spend time talking to God. I explore His Word and allow Him to talk to me. I walk or run to prepare my body for the day's battle. I fuel my body with the most nutritious food our budget allows. I stimulate my mind with reading other sources as well.

This isn't selfish - it's making the best use of God's day. I can't give out what I don't have and I have to make the choice to possess God's best as early in my day as possible. I can't reach the finish line of my day without properly preparing for the starting line.

Warning

We each have a "tell" to indicate impending burnout. Mine is when opportunity becomes irritation. When I have so little margin I no longer want God to interrupt my day. 

I have shared with you before about the 8 life transforming one-sentence prayers that have changed my life. One of those I learned to pray over my home and schedule - Lord, direct me. When I see my tell, I return to that place of prayer, surrender my day to Him and ask for His direction.

System

Through prayer and with the guidance of my husband's wisdom, I make choices. I make these decisions long before they're needed. They are my ultimate protection against burnout.

My children only enroll in a limited number of activities.

I only speak a certain number of times per month.

My children have friends to play a determined amount of times.

I say yes to an exclusive number of ministry opportunities.

This system of careful choices prevents burnout before it can begin.

I once heard a women admire quip, "To be successful, you have to fly under the radar and above the fray." There is real wisdom in this but the best place to fly is in the shadow of His wing. With His radar and utilizing this Early Warning System, we'll be in life's sweet spot - far from burnout.

When my Heart Calls Speak Different Languages

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:1-9

The girls in 2010 as Construction Workers.

"Mommy, I want to be fire fighter girl, a hair cutter girl and a swimming helper girl. I'll just do a different job every day of the week. That will work, right?"


If only life were that simple. My life as a wife, mom, house keeper, lover, cook, speaker, chauffeur, organizer, runner, party planner, writer, technology guru... feels like a jumbled mess of competing priorities some days. Just as Carynne hears the whispers of her heart to a variety of interests, I long to fill my various roles with enthusiasm and excellence. 


Life is complicated.


My desire to spend time with my husband wars with my need to live in a relatively straight house.


My longing to be physically intimate with him battles with my need to sleep. 


My hope to pour laughter and life into my daughters' days takes up arms against my need for the quiet necessary to exercise my gift of writing.


Sometimes I feel like the calls of my heart speak a hundred different languages. It reminds of the Old Testament account of the Tower of Babel. What a surprise it must have been to Babel's occupants when suddenly they could no longer understand each other.


As I child I missed the importance of why God intervened in their linguistics. Without it, they had no need of Him.


If my days were all easy, organized and check list perfect, I would have no need of Him. My heart speaks different languages so I will seek the One who interprets every emotion and encounter. 


In Babel, He may have scattered the people across the earth. But in my language confusion He gathers my heart to His. This moment I may be a writer. The next I might be counselor, comforter or cook. My life is complicated. My heart calls speak different languages but the Interpreter is always with me. My heart has no need for confusion.


What priority friction causes you the most angst? How could God interpret your priorities today and allow your heart to speak one language - love?