Is Your Life Filled with Busyness & Hurry? Part 4

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29 CSB

 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:28-29 The Message

Good morning on the Monday of a brand new week of Freedom Fighter blogs.

Last week I shared some symptoms of busyness that Ruth Haley Barton wrote in her book, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. 

Here are several more of the symptoms she shared:

I need to burn the verses from the lips of Jesus into my mind and heart: 

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:28-29 The Message (Please forgive me … I know Jesus actually spoke in the King James!)

We’ve been looking at indicators that our lives are too busy and out of control.

Here is the last three indicators from Ruth Haley Barton’s list. Are any of these familiar?

Not able to attend to human needs. We don’t have time to take care of basic human needs such as exercise, eating right, sleeping enough, going to the doctor, having that minor (or major) surgery we need. Even such simple things as getting the car washed, picking up the dry cleaning or staying organized seem impossible to accomplish, indicating that we’re pushing the limits of being human. We may also notice that our most important relationships (family and friends) are routinely being short-changed. 

Hoarding energy. When we are running on empty, we can have the inner experience of always feeling threatened, as though exposing ourselves to additional people or situations would drain the last of our energy or the energy we are trying to conserve for what we think is important. We might actually become overly self-protective and even reclusive in our attempts to hoard the few resources we do have. In their book The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz call this defense spending. 

Slippage in our spiritual practices. Practices that are normally life-giving (solitude and silence, prayer, personal reflection on Scripture, journaling, self-examination, caring for the body) become burdensome, and we don’t have energy for them even though we know they are good for us. We might even find that we are so accustomed to using God and Scripture for ministry purposes that we no longer know how to be with God for ourselves personally. We know that there are things we need to attend to in God’s presence, but we truly do not have the energy or the will. Over time, this becomes a symptom and also a source of our depletion.

I know in my life the easiest thing to let go is my daily quiet time with the Lord. That should be the LAST thing we let go of in our lives. We will justify not going to church, reading the Bible, and praying. This one alone should we a warning light going off in our heads.

I AM NOT WRITING THESE BECAUSE I HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER! I AM WRITING THESE BECAUSE I NEEDED TO LOOK AT MY LIFE AND ASK MYSELF THE QUESTIONS – Is this me? It’s scary but necessary. Come apart so you don’t come apart. Thanks, Dr. Vance Havner.

Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry (Transforming Resources) (p. 106). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Write me at bwelte@americaskeswick.org.

Undivided: By Christ, in Christ, For Christ,

Bill Welte
President/CEO
America’s Keswick
Email me: bwelte@americaskeswick.org

Written by Bill Welte, President/CEO of America’s Keswick: Bill has been married to his childhood sweetheart for 40+ years and has four married kids and 12 amazing grandkids. He loves music and is an avid reader.