by Barbara Magnuson
The last three weeks I have had a nasty virus that literally sapped the energy out of me. Right in the middle of it Larry and I had a retreat to lead so I did my best to just keep going. It is hard when you are overwhelmed with a virus and then fatigue sets in. The interesting thing about fatigue is that it comes at us in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. There is physical fatigue when we are drained physically from doing something or from a long-term illness or even from the amount of experiences and information that bombards us. Then there is compassion fatigue when we are overwhelmed by all the needs of all the people around us. But there is also a weariness of a tired spirit. We become so fatigued that we lose the desires for God to go deeper with Him and to serve Him. And then often these can mount on top of each other. We first become physically fatigued. In time we experience compassion fatigue and then we are in the grip of spiritual fatigue. We know we should spend time with the Lord. We know we should experience the wonder of our relationship with Him that permeates everything we do . . . but we are so weary and drained.
I have been reading the book Restoring Your Spiritual Passion by Gordon MacDonald. In his book he tells a story from African colonial history:
In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Africans from a local tribe had been engaged to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.
Is it time for us to let our souls catch up to our physical bodies? If you don’t know how that can happen, pick up Gordon McDonald’s book – Restoring your Spiritual Passion.