Boredom and Burnout

My kids say they are bored but I don’t believe them.

Bored kids don’t make obstacle courses out of masking tape for me to trip over or draw intense murals on my walls in bright red crayon. Bored kids don’t climb trees thirty feet in the air and giggle at the meter-reader from behind the leaves. They don’t cut their hair with scissors while I nap, deliberately slide paper under the piano keys, pour water into light sockets, or lose Papaw’s lawnmower keys right after they clogged his toilet with toothbrushes. Bored kids don’t sneak orange sherbet into their bedroom, drift off to sleep, and allow the remainder to melt stickily into every crevice of their dresser. My kids are definitely not bored!

Mama, You Work Hard

Now are they perhaps in need of supervised entertainment? Ummmmm, probably, but I don’t always have the energy to keep them alive AND plan a Pinterest-worthy list of activities. Moms work hard. We really do. Throw a couple of toddlers in the mix and you’ll go crazy trying to stay one step ahead of their imaginative little minds. Then add in cleaning, cooking meals, homeschooling, and keeping all the little guys in clean underwear, and you’ve got a recipe for burnout. Sometimes I have to stop the ride, step off, and sit down on the couch for a moment especially after late nights with the kids.

But burnout still sneaks up on you. Maybe I’m wiping up yet another spill, and grumbling under my breath that the princess tea party got out of hand, instead of smiling over my girls doling out juice for each other. Perhaps burnout shows up as I get too focused on the next scroll through Facebook instead of reading a story to my sweetly-smiling munchkins. And maybe burnout means locking myself in the bathroom with my hands over my ears for Just. Five. Minutes. no matter how loudly your toddler yells, “Let me in Mama!”

Burnout is an indicator of a need we can’t fill alone

Let’s be real. Motherhood is hard. It’s incredibly beautiful, but it’s hard. This feeling of burnout can follow you until your days run together in a mishmash of raw emotion, and even coffee out with friends doesn’t touch the soul-exhaustion. Burnout runs deeper than tiredness. Burnout is an indicator of a need that we cannot fill on our own. Just like an empty gas gauge prompts you to turn into a filling station, burnout prompts us to turn to the One who can fill us. We are plants in need of His good soil and light. We are souls in need of the overflowing, fresh fountain of the water of everlasting life. (John 4:14)

Martha, dear, sweet Martha, suffered from burnout just like us. In fact, Luke 10:38-42 shows us a picture of her snapping at Jesus, ordering Him to rouse Mary from her place by Jesus feet and dish out food. I’m sure Martha was overwhelmed. I’ve only got six children, and lunch time with them sometimes feels like roundup at the corral, complete with dust and wild horses. Imagine Jesus and perhaps twelve hungry disciples sitting in your living room while you flurry and fluster, only to find out that your sister has abandoned the salad prep, walked away from the now-burning stew, and is curled up at Jesus’ very feet.

The Lord’s response to Martha is so typically gentle. He pulls aside her frustration and looks right at her heart.

“And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Martha was worried about many things

Many things. Martha was worried about many things. I totally relate to her. I’m worried about many things. I’m troubled in my soul over my many failures. I’m overwhelmed by my to-do list and my responsibilities. But if you look closely at the verse, it seems that Mary probably had her own problems and worries. The word chosen implies a choice between two things. Mary’s choice was to sit at Jesus feet, which was in Jesus’ words, the “good part”.

I love reading scripture in context and contemplating on the truths revealed within. I suddenly wondered, “Did Jesus feed the five-thousand before or after Martha’s dinner?” Guess what? It was actually only one chapter previous. Luke 9 is the story of Jesus and His miraculous provision for thousands of people out of only five loaves and two fish! I’m suddenly stunned at Martha’s forgetfulness. What would have happened if she’d decided to sit at Jesus feet too? Perhaps another miracle from the One who raised the dead and could certainly provide lunch for just a few?

If Jesus can feed 5,000, He can supply what you need

I’m reminded of Philippians 4:19-20, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

God supplies all our needs. He has riches available to us through Christ Jesus. He does not want us slogging through the mud of motherhood, intent on doing all the work with no gas in our tank. Jesus wants us to choose the good part, in other words, Jesus wants us to choose HIM. His presence is where I trade my frazzled burnout for a place at His feet. His throne is where I dump out the worries of my soul and then rest in the assurance that He hears every single cry of my needy heart.

Does this take effort? Yes. Must I sometimes neglect a load of laundry or put off making my bed to squeeze a few precious minutes in with the Lord? Yep. Will the Lord honor my effort to put Him first place? Absolutely. Luke 6:38 says, “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” My small sacrifices will reap great rewards. I don’t know how, but I’ve seen God do it over and over. Time that somehow gets multiplied. Schoolwork that falls into place. Dinner ideas that come suddenly to mind using ingredients you don’t even remember purchasing.

Choose Jesus first, and watch Him work out the details

Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

Tithing my time, and offering the first of my attention to the Lord is incredibly difficult but so worth it. Jesus is always worth it. I’m pretty convicted while writing this. I know that I am not in a habit of offering God the first of my time. But I want to be. I want, like Mary, to choose Jesus over all the other voices that call my name.

So let’s pledge to choose Jesus first. Let’s wait for the miraculous healing that’s going to happen in our souls and our families. I’m going to trust that Jesus can conquer my burnout and pour out His goodness in such abundance that I’ll never be able to soak up all that precious living water.

Take a moment:

1. Pray: Father, You are the Master of Multiplying in my life. You provide more than what I need to accomplish the mission of motherhood that you called me to. There is nothing that Your presence cannot change when I come and sit at your feet soaking up Your wisdom. Help me to choose Jesus first especially when I’m overcome by chaos. Thank you for your forever love that looks right past my barriers and rescues me when I’m drowning in my worry. You are amazing, sustaining God. In Jesus Name, Amen.

2. Carve out time in your packed schedule to sit at Jesus’ feet. Put aside the laundry and cleaning for a little while and let your soul be refreshed. Choose one or more of the verses below to meditate on.

Luke 10:38-42

Malachi 3:10-12

John 4:14

Luke 9:10-17

Philippians 4:19-20

Luke 6:38