Chaplain’s Column
Summers are full of celebrations. A lot of transitions are happening all around us. My schedule is filled with change of commands and retirement ceremonies scattered with a few weddings and graduations in the midst of PCS season.
As exciting as all this can be, the busyness causes many to “burn the candle at both ends.”
But this summer can also serve as an opportunity to refresh yourself, get some rest, enjoy some recreation and avoid burnout by evaluating how you resource yourself. Lisa Garry defines burnout as when, “the demands placed on you exceed the resources available to you.”
A few weeks ago, my wife came out of our bedroom on a mission. Our 16-year-old son was in her crosshairs because she had just finished showering and assessed that his routine long showers had used all the hot water, leaving her with a not-so-refreshing cold shower. She was clean, but not very happy!
After addressing the shortage of hot water with our son, in an intense motherly tone, she proceeded into the kitchen to begin dinner.
It was after attempting to start the gas stove that she realized it would light but would not stay lit. The flames would flicker but only burn for a few seconds; it was at this moment that my wife and I realized we had a resource issue.
I went outside to observe the gas meter and was met with the surprise that our gas had been accidentally shut off with a mix up by the gas company.
After concluding that dinner that evening would be an “eat out” night, the gas company apologized for the inconvenience and assured us it would be back on first thing in the morning. I learned we did not just have a resource issue but a source issue.
What is your source? How do you keep yourself resourced? We all only have limited amount of source. Meaning each of us can only give out of who we are.
When you and I spend our lives pouring ourselves into relationships, careers, responsibility and goals, and never take the time to resource ourselves, eventually we are going to run on empty. You and I will not last long on empty. This is where burnout starts to take place.
I read about a first grader who wondered why her father brought home a briefcase full of work every evening. Her mother explained, “Daddy has so much to do that he can’t finish it all at the office.”
“Well, then,” asked the child innocently, “why don’t they put him in a slower group?” How do we resource ourselves when the demands on us seem more than what we have to give.
In the Gospel of John, the lady at the well had a meeting with Jesus that would change her life. She had spent her life trying to resource herself through relationships. However, what do you do when the source that you are resourcing yourself from dries up?
The lady had been in five marriages and was in her sixth relationship trying to fill herself with a limited resource. She did not have a resource issue. She had a source issue.
The truth is, relationships, things, dreams are limited resources. Eventually they are all going to run dry. Our resources are meant to be blessings, as we learn to appreciate and steward them, but will never satisfy us.
Jesus told this lady, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
I love my wife and family. I enjoy my job. I am inspired by my dreams and encouraged by my friends.
I hope that my family, friends and those I serve with are blessed by my life. I pray that I can be a resource to those that are in my life but to expect from them something that they were not designed to provide will only set me up for frustration and eventually burnout.
They are my resources, but they will never be able to serve as my source of life. Only my faith can source that.
Enjoy these summer celebrations!
Be grateful for those who resource your life and be a blessing to those in your life, but avoid burnout and stay connected to a source that will never run dry.