Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

22Mar10

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

I love that song.  John Mayer does a terrific job with it.

Yet, I wonder how many of us are actually slow dancing in a burning room.

Burnout is hell.  Really it is.  In burnout you find yourself truly separated from God, from people, and usually from hope.  If there is one thing I have seen take out hundreds (literally) of leaders… it would be burnout.

Here’s the problem with burnout… most people never knew they were burning until it was too late.  And then when they finally realized they were burning they thought that something recent had caused it.

Let me give you a few tips for NEVER BURNING OUT!  I’ve burned out a time or two in my life, and there is one thing I know… it doesn’t have to happen.  You don’t have to burn out.  Every time I burned out… there was a reason.

Early Warning Signs

1.  SHARP CURVE AHEAD.  Anytime life takes an unexpected turn, a variance from expectation, a twist from what you wanted.  Burnout can start.  See it’s in those times that you have to operate on the reserves of previous faith built.  Those aren’t moments that faith is built, those are moments that faith is used.  A ton of people try to say that faith is built in the hard times, but it’s not … faith is built in the day to day little things.  It’s used in the twists and turns and in the unexpected moments.

2.  ISOLATION.  Anytime you find yourself getting away from the faithful voices in your life and justifying it.  There have been times that I’ve been starting to burnout and because I’m not man enough to blame myself and not brave enough to blame God, then my blame shifts to the next closest thing… those who love and care for me.  I begin to twist their motives, paranoia creeps in, and before you know it I’ve separated myself from the very hope I have in the people around me.  I box myself into a tiny room with my own thoughts, my own problems, and my own fears … before long I’m tormented by non existent enemies and threatened by acts of love and grace.  All of that soon turns to blame and finger pointing and before long I’ve built walls between me and my way of escape.

3. WRONG VOICES.  Exposure … affects us.  You can’t go hang out in a -60 degree snowstorm and not expect it to change you.  In the same way, you can’t listen to disgruntled voices or impassioned disbelievers without being affected by it.  There may be times that I need a limited exposure to the other side to be aware of where someone is… but if I spend more than a few seconds in that place I will begin to be warped by the very atmosphere around them.  Especially if 1 and 2 are already going on in my life.  There are places that the church builds a safe covering for me to reach out to others without being affected by the environment, but that is always done through spiritual oversight and God’s wisdom… not through my own self improvised tactics for “restoration”.

4.  IGNORING.  The number one warning sign of burnout (and I saved it for last cause it’s the one I want you to remember) is ignoring God.  Oh you think you aren’t… that’s why it’s so hard.  Simple test for ignoring God… take at least 2 weeks after you see any warning signs for 1-3 and spend every morning waking up at 5:30am and worshiping for an hour, then pray in tongues every day for at least 3 hours during that time.  Then meditate at least one book of the bible during that same time.  Then make sure you get your butt into every church opportunity available during that time.  If you come out the other side and are still burned out… email me. See … It’s not possible to be CLOSE TO GOD and burned out at the same time.  If so you’re close to the wrong god.  Every time I draw near to the divine creator of the universe my burnout disappears and my energy is renewed… more pursuit equals greater grace.

Are you burning out… and weren’t aware?  Are you slow dancing in a burning room and not aware of it?

Tomorrow we will look at ways we try to solve burnout that only make it worse.  (Once again I’ve tried them all )

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Tags: burnout, change, committiment, heretic, Leadership, thinking right, transformation