Guard Your Heart

I am asking that question of most people these days.  Actually, I am asking, “How is your heart, soul, mind and body”?  I really want to know.  During these turbulent times, it is important for us to pay attention to how we are responding to all that is going on around us.  We are all directly and indirectly impacted by this global pandemic.  We all may be responding to everything differently, but make no mistake, we are all responding and reacting to the events of each day.

Often, our behavior, our thoughts, our words, can indicate the condition of our heart and/or our soul.  Guard your heart by paying attention to what’s going on.  Are you irritable - tired - anxious?  Do you find yourself annoyed by people, even lashing out at them?  Are you overly critical or judgmental?  I’ve come to discover that all that is going on externally may be the result of or the cause of what is going on internally.  I’ve learned that everyone is more than likely experiencing some kind of fatigue:
 
During a staff meeting this week (via zoom) we discussed ways that we are feeling some kind of fatigue.  I heard the phrase “online worship fatigue”. It got me thinking. 
Is our staff fatigued by doing everything online?  Are people fatigued from watching on line?  We came up with other kinds of fatigue:
 

• Robot fatigue:  tired of doing everything by phone or computer. 
• Parenting fatigue:  You love your children, but there is only so much you can give to them, and it may not be appreciated. 
• Facebook fatigue: Tired of seeing all those other parents doing amazingly creative things with their children.  (Trust me, all that glitters is not gold.)
• Guilt fatigue, or what Dr. Andrea Gurney recently called “unproductive fatigue”: Whether you are working from home or not, you are tired of believing the lie that you are not doing enough, or what you are doing isn’t significant or important or valuable.  You are tired of believing you SHOULD be doing more.

...whatever that looks like.  Whether it’s picking up food for our neighbor, making 100 masks a day, praying for medical staff and care providers, recording online worship music, editing the online worship service, or even coming up with hopefully one more inspiring sermon.  In the midst of doing what you can to love and care for others, be sure you take time to care for yourself.  Examine your heart, spirit, soul and mind.  Pay attention to what is going on internally, and see how is may be impacting things externally.