the Oinment for Burnout

A working mom and wife suddenly feels waves of anger when the nursing home calls to let her know that her mother is refusing to eat again and so she needs to come and take care of the situation.

A dad of a young boy doesn’t have energy left when he comes home from his new better paid job that demands of him long hours and constant time on the road.

A teenager struggles with depression even though she has good scores, it’s the captain of her volleyball team and her following on social media keeps growing.

These 3 scenarios based on real life stories are the reflection of what’s happening in our culture today. We re becoming obsessed with the pursuit of excellence mainly by comparing our lives with others that more and more people are getting burnout.

One big mistake than we fall into is to think that we can achieve happiness by hustling and working hard for our ideal lives.

The Bible commends hard work and discipline but never at the expense of our souls.

From the Beginning God knew That the best part of Creation was when He rested from his work on the 7th day. If you read the chapter in Genesis 1, you will notice that every day has an evening and a morning with the exception of the 7th day. When God rested there was no evening nor morning, symbolizing God’s ideal.

In Lev 23 God gives the Israelites a yearly calendar full of festivities or holidays that were meant to frame the people’s imaginations about their true identity as the go on with their lives. This calendar had practical implications also, like truly rest from regular work at least 1 day of their week but also with a lot of floating days during the year were they were called to just stop, rest, enjoy life as it is with your family in the location that you are and with the supernatural sense that God cares for you.

As I meditate in this calendar I feel jealous but also encouraged to stop and think about what life is truly about and enjoy with my family and neighbor the many blessings of God that can only be seen when we slow down.

May the Lord bless you with Sabbath rest.