I dunno about you, but I have been feeling very tired lately.
Although I suppose I’m technically functional most of the time, I’m facing a depth of exhaustion that I wish I could say I’ve never known before… but is one that has actually become quite familiar.
I learned the phrase “compassion fatigue” the other day. As my mind was blown by how perfect those words were, it was almost as if my spirit sighed a big, “Finally.“
Compassion Fatigue is described as being “the cost of caring for others or for their emotional pain, resulting from the desire to help relieve the suffering of others”. It is different than burnout, which is a psychological syndrome, usually brought on from being in a stressful work environment for an extended period of time. Compassion fatigue can develop much quicker (and people can also recover from it faster) and is a result of being exposed to the trauma or severe difficulties of others. It can also be known as vicarious or secondary trauma.
This condition is something that used to primarily affect health care workers, first responders, law enforcement officers and at-home caregivers. However, enduring a global pandemic and hearing such extreme amounts of suffering from around the world leaves all of us at risk of compassion fatigue.
“Well, that’s great Laura. Thanks for the super uplifting devotional thought…”
I promise it will be 😉
Consider this passage from the end of Matthew 11…
Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.
“The Father has given me all these things to do and say.
This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge.
No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.
But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
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 11:27-30 (The Message)
As I’ve been wrestling with this familiar feeling of compassion fatigue, I’ve been brought back to the basics of spending time with Jesus. How many times have we heard Gabe remind us that one of the first things to go in times of stress and busyness is spending time with Jesus??
That’s not to say people who spend time with Jesus never develop compassion fatigue… it is, however, a very powerful reminder for me to heed these instructions of Jesus as he invites all of us to “Come to me… to get away with me”.
The purpose of daily time spent with God is not done for the sake of filling my mind with even more facts or information; not for the sake of being a good pastor or even because I need to be a good pastor! It is so that I can daily bring my burdens, and the very real and overwhelming burdens others face, to God.
It is not mean or rude of us to do that.
It is not inconsiderate or weak of us to do that.
It is not a Band-Aid fix, nor a bother for us to do that.
It is obedient. It is wise. It is humble!
It is choosing to trust that what God has to give us in return will be lighter than that which we brought to him.
It is choosing to entrust the burdens we’ve accumulated to a good and faithful, Heavenly Father.
When we bring our burdens before Jesus I often imagine us laying them at his feet… and I realized this morning that part of me believed I did that because the burdens were bad or because they were yucky and because they belonged on the ground.
But, what if when we bring our burdens to Jesus, he gently scoops them up and sets them on the cross? Or lays them into the tomb to await resurrection life? What if we allowed ourselves to recognize that our burdens matter?! And that they matter even more to the Lord…
I think my burdens end up on the ground because I carry them around for so long they pull me down and I hand them over because I simply can’t go anywhere else until I do.
What if we instead, began to pass them over to Jesus as soon as they register in our hearts as difficult to bear. What if every encounter with the people we care so much for, was brought back to the Father to carry?
“Give your burdens to the Lord and he will take care of you…”
Psalm 55:22