Burnout

Now that my mom has returned home, life here in Turkey is getting back to normal.  We are back into our usual routines and activities.  One struggle that I have here is the tendency to do too much.  We live in a small little town and there seem to always be more needs than people to fill them.  I feel a twinge of guilt at church when volunteers are needed for this or that and I don't offer my help.  I have always been a "yes" person, and learning to sometimes say "no" is a hard lesson for me.

Recently, I heard Beth Moore give a quote that really spoke to me.  It went something like this-"a need does not constitute a call".  Yes, there are areas that I am definitely called to work in right now.  The church nursery that W attends and the babysitting co-op that gives me much needed mornings off are two places that I know I am needed and feel called to be there.  But when I try to attend every playgroup, make meals for every sick person, and volunteer for every need that arises at the chapel, I put myself in a position where I do none of it well.  I am stressed, tense, and unhappy. 

So, I am learning to pray about areas that I am called to serve, and how to to put the rest of it to the side.  Probably a lesson I should have learned long ago, but better late than never.