Christmas Blessings and Burnout

This December brought a whirlwind of wonderful and fun events! I am looking at my calendar from December, and of the 31 days, 24 of them had some type of special events! There is an 11 day stretch where I (Daniel) went straight from my regular work day to a special event.

The first series of events I’d like to focus on is our delivery of cookies and what we have called “progressive caroling.” I need to give a special shout out to the Beulah WMU and all who participated in making the delicious cookies for Beulah’s two choir specials. We went home with a great many of the leftovers and used them to make plates of cookies to deliver to our neighbors. The plates were most warmly received! When asked who made them, we replied “the folks at our church made them with love and gave them to us knowing we’d find a good place to give them.” With the plate of cookies was an invitation to our evening of progressive caroling and we got several responses. In the late afternoon of the 21^st, the Maggard family set out and went to a neighbors door and caroled to them. Then, the Maggards and the neighbor we just caroled to set off to another neighbors house. As we went caroling, we collected each person we caroled to and we all went to the next family. We even picked up some of the neighborhood kids who were outside playing! It was quite an eclectic group. We were also able to carol to several seniors who not able to continue on with us, and it was these elderly neighbors who appreciated the caroling the most. We ended by heading back to our apartment for hot coco and the Christmas story. While the entire group did not attend for that part, several did and were able to hear the Good News.

On another occasion, we were approached in private and asked if we knew of anyone who had kids and was in need of help buying Christmas present this season. With some wise help, we were able to identify a family that was known to be struggling. It was such a privilege to be the middle-man for a secret Santa and to deliver a car FULL of presents to a needy family!

The apartment staff also had two separate Christmas parties, one for adults and one for kids. We were able to attend both and made several wonderful connections with our neighbors! There were games, dancing, snacks, and all-around good fun to be had. It was refreshing to attend the adult party and know 85% of those in attendance. At one point I was encouraged to see Adelaide surrounded by all the international ladies in the community. The international community we live among tends to be needing a whole extra layer of community, and Adelaide has been a central figure for many of these ladies to find what they need.

We also had the distinct privilege of being invited by two different sets of international neighbors to meet their family visiting from their home country. In one instance, the guest was only in SC for about 36 hours, and the family wanted to make sure we could spent an entire evening with him. Of all the attractions available to show, visiting with us was made a priority. The other neighbor is a younger lady here from Eastern Europe and her grandparent age parents came for several weeks. They were very excited to host us and demonstrate their very best ethnic foods. I (Daniel) spent a lot of time visiting with the father discussion religious and spiritual issues, and I was able to make a clear distinction between the empty organized religion he was used to seeing in Eastern Europe and what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Please, pray for fruit! This family also came to Beulah's Christmas Eve candlelight service and heard the gospel proclaimed again. Praise God!

In addition to the wonderful events noted above, we participated in a great number of other activities, all of which we loved! Two Beulah Christmas choir specials, attending a neighbors piano recital who has no other family, several big birthday parties (to include my own), caroling with other Beulah choir members, a Christmas party at my full time job, a close friend's sudden death/funeral in the upstate, a youth group Christmas party, regular ministry to our neighbors, my regular job (Hospice Chaplain) also had an increase in tempo due to the holidays, gathering with both sides of our wonderful family, a personal life-long friend of Adelaide's visiting overnight after returning from South Korea for several years, preaching on a Sunday morning, and a Christmas Eve Candlelight service. There were several evenings we would stay up past midnight making preparations for the next day. We were so busy we did not have time to reciprocate many of the things Beulah does around the holiday season, to include gift giving to friends and Christmas cards. While we participated in many events, we could not help but miss a few we wanted to attend!

All of this while trying to teach a 2.5 year old about the true meaning of Christmas (Enoch quickly learned “Christmas is about Santa!”), keeping the 9 month old from pulling over the tree, and finding time to enjoy God’s goodness and love expressed through our favorite time of year.

I think this was the quickest we have ever taken down our Christmas decorations.

When January came around, we found ourselves exhausted. We were done with Christmas. Since then, we have had several opportunities to open our home to those we minister to along with several others outside our apartment community, but we found ourselves saying, “I just can’t do that right now.” Looking back over December, we realized we had been pushing ourselves beyond our physical and social abilities on a daily basis. We had burned out.

Over the past few weeks, we have been intentional to find time to rest in the Lord. Our family Bible time has led us through the book of Mark. We have also made time to be together in deep prayer over our family. One of our Christmas presents this year was a weekend Christian marriage retreat. We attended and found it so restful to have specific time away when we were not needing to be anything (parent, pastor, chaplain, the “nice Christian friend,” counselor) to anyone besides being ourselves to each other.

Next Christmas season, and throughout this year, we will be moving more intentionally, much like Christ did, and I encourage you to do the same. One author says Jesus had a “sacred pace,” and another says to “set your spiritual GPS.” Look at Mark 1:32-39. Jesus spent all day healing the sick, and so he went somewhere quiet to spend time in prayer. The disciples then came in with an anxious energy and carried to him the demands of the people who wanted more miracles. But what was Jesus’ response? “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Jesus knew what his purpose was and He did not let others distract Him from His purpose. His purpose was to preach the gospel. Christians (myself included) ought to do the same thing. Was there certainly a need for the healings? Sure, but that isn’t why Jesus was there. Jesus said ‘no’ to so much so that He could maximize His time on earth doing what He was meant to do – proclaim the Good News!! Here are two questions that I often find myself asking when a new service opportunity presents itself, and I invite you to do the same:

- How will this provide a direct opportunity for the Gospel to be proclaimed?

- Will this detract from the ministry commitments I have already made?

When we remain focused on our mission as individual Christians and as God’s corporate body, we will find it easier to say ‘no’ to opportunities that may distract us from that purpose. Come next holiday season, we will be very intentional to guard our calendar, even if that means saying ‘no’ or ‘maybe next month’ to something that may direct our energy elsewhere. This is a principle we apply to our every day life, but will need to do so vigorously during the busy holiday season.

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people, pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:5-8