It's easy to get caught up playing the superhero and coming to everyone else's rescue only to realize that you're the damsel in distress tied to the train tracks. I don't know about you but I'm definitely guilty when it comes to this. As lives, positions, titles and responsibilities change so do uniforms, roles and expectations... and if you're not careful you may find yourself where I was just a few days ago.
Sitting in my bathroom crying uncontrollably tearing through rolls of toilet paper to blow my nose just so I could breathe... because the weight of everything I was carrying had gotten to be too much. The levees broke, the dam failed, and the floodgates came crashing open. I had gotten to the point where I could not carry one more burden, hold in another word that I wanted to scream at someone, fight back another tear, suppress my own needs for the needs of others or continue on the path I was on. I broke down... and I couldn't even form the words to begin to tell anyone what was going on. There I sat, sobbing, heaving and hyperventilating because I cried so hard I couldn't catch my breath.
It's easy to get caught up in caring for everybody else, trying to help everybody else, pouring into everybody else, and giving of yourself without realizing you're running on fumes. Especially as a minister... you give so much of yourself away sometimes that you forget to save some for yourself. Guilty as charged...
I said all of that to ask this simple question... When was the last time you asked someone how they were doing and really wanted to know the answer out of genuine love and concern? or do you just do it because it's habit or something you say in making conversation?
If I ask how someone is doing, I truly want to know, and if I sense that they're not whatever their response was, I try to take the time to find out how they really are. How often do we walk past someone who is smiling and assume that because they're wearing a smile everything is ok? Take the time to check on people. There are thousands of people sitting on pews, in cubicles, at desks, in cars, that are one word, one incident, one call, one step... away from their breaking point but nobody knows. Why?? Because we have become desensitized, have abandoned the deep for the shallow and surface..
In the midst of my breakdown I realized I couldn't remember the last time that somebody really took the time to make sure I was ok... Superheroes need heroes too.. everybody needs someone to check on them and to make sure they're ok... even if they say they don't or always say "I'm fine" "I'm ok" "Everything's good" Take two minutes to make sure they really are, set aside an hour to pour into someone who is always giving themselves to others, at some point give back as much as you take...
Sitting in my bathroom crying uncontrollably tearing through rolls of toilet paper to blow my nose just so I could breathe... because the weight of everything I was carrying had gotten to be too much. The levees broke, the dam failed, and the floodgates came crashing open. I had gotten to the point where I could not carry one more burden, hold in another word that I wanted to scream at someone, fight back another tear, suppress my own needs for the needs of others or continue on the path I was on. I broke down... and I couldn't even form the words to begin to tell anyone what was going on. There I sat, sobbing, heaving and hyperventilating because I cried so hard I couldn't catch my breath.
It's easy to get caught up in caring for everybody else, trying to help everybody else, pouring into everybody else, and giving of yourself without realizing you're running on fumes. Especially as a minister... you give so much of yourself away sometimes that you forget to save some for yourself. Guilty as charged...
I said all of that to ask this simple question... When was the last time you asked someone how they were doing and really wanted to know the answer out of genuine love and concern? or do you just do it because it's habit or something you say in making conversation?
If I ask how someone is doing, I truly want to know, and if I sense that they're not whatever their response was, I try to take the time to find out how they really are. How often do we walk past someone who is smiling and assume that because they're wearing a smile everything is ok? Take the time to check on people. There are thousands of people sitting on pews, in cubicles, at desks, in cars, that are one word, one incident, one call, one step... away from their breaking point but nobody knows. Why?? Because we have become desensitized, have abandoned the deep for the shallow and surface..
In the midst of my breakdown I realized I couldn't remember the last time that somebody really took the time to make sure I was ok... Superheroes need heroes too.. everybody needs someone to check on them and to make sure they're ok... even if they say they don't or always say "I'm fine" "I'm ok" "Everything's good" Take two minutes to make sure they really are, set aside an hour to pour into someone who is always giving themselves to others, at some point give back as much as you take...
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