Wise Up Before You Burn Out

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”

—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding [drawing it forth from God’s Word and life’s experiences].

—Proverbs 3:13

Wisdom is realistic! Wise people acknowledge their limitations and avoid trying to be super human. God has no limitations and can do things through us we can never do on our own, but each of us can and will burn out if we don’t use wisdom in our scheduling and the commitments we make.

Jesus said when we are weary and overburdened we should come to Him and He will give us rest (see Matthew 11:28). One of the ways He gives rest is by showing us what we need to change in our lives.

Have you ever suffered from burnout? I have and it’s not fun; it’s definitely not an experience I want to repeat. I love my ministry but I remember driving by our office complex one day and sticking my tongue out at it. At that moment, I thought, I don’t ever want to hear the name Joyce Meyer Ministries again. Of course, I did not really mean that, but at that particular moment I thought I did. Why did I feel that way? I had just finished doing thirteen conferences in thirteen weekends and I was burned out. I needed a change of pace, some variety and rest. When I got it, I felt totally back to normal and ready to go again.

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. If you find yourself extra cranky, dragging into work and leaving early, caring less about what used to be really important, or feeling physically sick though there’s not a clear diagnosis of what may be wrong with you, you may be experiencing symptoms of burnout. Some people ignore the warning signs and keep pushing until their burnout is so bad they never recover. They give up on things God truly intended them to do simply because they were not realistic about their own needs. The simple way to live is to pace yourself so you can accomplish a lot in life and not get derailed through burnout.