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Facing Burnout

10:02 PM - Feb. 6, 2009 - Wild Thoughts {0} - Add to the Wildness

I was going through some family videos from last year, from our cross-country travels. It was a really neat stop, but I wondered why I'd picked such a dark, introspective song as background for the clips.

Then I remembered how I'd been feeling just before we left. I also remember feeling the same way the year before. It's not the kids, they're great. It's everything else. We've been living in a renovation for nine years, and this winter's been the worst. We are literally without half our house right now, all crammed into the north end as we do major repair to the south end.

It's the church. That's nothing short of a travesty. I feel lost. We made it our home and our heart, and it's become a black hole that just keeps sucking more and more out of us. When it got to the point where the children were showing signs of hurting from it, that was it for me. But I don't know where to turn to go forward. It was very much my tie to other Christians and to my small-town community.

It's the job. We never know for sure whether Dave's going to be home or not, whether he'll still be working in the same part of the plant from one day to the next. They're deliberately and chronically understaffed, and they treat their human resources worse than the machinery. After all, the machines cost money. But they can always hire another person at no extra cost to them.

I'm constantly restless and irritable. I often find myself feeling trapped by the place where I live--the remote location, the house and yard, the people.

I'm just waiting for March. At that time, David and I will be done with our full-time church commitments. After that, maybe I can begin to breathe again. We made plans. We want to take the family around to different towns, doing gospel music. We want to start a non-church, Bible-based project that focuses on the Word and feeds the starving, sick congregations we keep encountering. We want to get back to encouraging and uplifting. As it stands, the people we have loved won't accept it from us.

I think the best cure for a broken heart is to seek God's wholeness.

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© Copyright Cathi-Lyn Dyck 2005-2009

Ever Feel Criticized for Expressing Your Faith?

10:33 AM - Feb. 26, 2008 - Wild Thoughts {0} - Add to the Wildness

To me, this is the quote of the month:

"The Bible records in Acts 17:10-11 that the Apostle Paul commended the Bereans for comparing what he taught and said to Scripture. Rather than taking offense at what others might consider to be 'criticism,' Paul encouraged them to compare everything he was teaching to the Word of God. He did not regard those who sincerely measured what he said by Scripture as 'difficult,' or 'divisive,' or having a 'critical spirit.' He understood that for truth to prevail in the Church, everyone's teachings--even his own--would have to be proven by the Word of God. He echoed this in 1 Thessalonians 5:21: 'Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good.'"

(Deceived on Purpose, 2nd edition, p.18; Mountain Stream Press, 2004)

--Warren Smith, B.A., MSW
speaker and author of The Light That Was Dark (Moody Press)
Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel (now as a free e-book)
and Deceived on Purpose

© Copyright Cathi-Lyn Dyck 2005-2008

The Coming Events Roster Around Here

10:46 PM - Jul. 25, 2007 - Wild Thoughts {0} - Add to the Wildness

Grandma's moving in. But not with me, thank you. Grandma is moving into a suite my parents are building onto their old farmhouse. The suite is being designed with future use as a garage in mind, which basically just means a concrete floor under the wood floor, and in one wall, a big doorway beam that currently has no need to be there.

This also means that Grandma has a house up for sale in my lovely small-town environs. I don't have pictures up yet, but I'm going to take some and add them, if nothing else than for interest's sake. In the meantime, if you know anyone who wants to move to Canada, send them our way. Kenton's a pretty good place.

For myself, I've been doing pseudo-technical stuff to my blogs this evening. I finally broke down and signed up to Technorati (how Stone Age am I?). I've got a couple of blogs claimed so far, but I got bored, thanks to my slow connection.

I also have yet another blogging gig, this time as part of a team. Starting Monday, I'm going to be part of the text content for Humble O Radio, which is actually a really funny show. I "met" Marty and Trina Daniels on ShoutLife, and Marty and Dave have emailed back and forth a bit, talking Christian issues and such. Trina, like me, is into natural gardening, artsy stuff, and writing.

Marty's pretty much a goof, but with a brain, so his interviews and commentary are both sideways and highly interesting. For myself, I'll be starting off with a six-week run on sustainability, plus a surprise interview to be revealed later. I like interviews. They're fun.

The sustainability topic also convinced me to sign up to a really rockin' website run by a friend of ours, Forcing Change. The site documents (as in real source documents) the interaction between government, society and religion, with a lot of UN documents. Membership is a bit costly, but I've now got verified source material for at least a couple of months' ideas that I had already wanted to write about--and that's just from one article. Let's just say, it's information-rich.

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© Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007 Lazy Creek Online. This blog content is not authorized for reproduction outside of the HomeschoolBlogger.com hosting site and Lazy Creek websites. Violations may be reported to Cathi-Lyn Dyck at: www.Lazycreek.net

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