Still, I hurt this morning. Seriously. I can barely walk, and I didn't sleep well last night. I know it could have been worse though. I could have been and still be cramping up like crazy. I could be too weak to move. I could have suffered a major heat induced migraine that lasts for a few days. I've experienced all of these before. Several years ago I suffered heat exhaustion while installing an irrigation system in a field. I collapsed, and co-workers carried me to a shade and called my boss to take me to the doctor. A few days later I was able to work again, but it was weeks before I fully recovered, and even though I did recover I have to be careful. It doesn't take as much to hurt me since that happened, and I cramp up and get heat induced headaches much more quickly and easily than I did before the heat exhaustion.
I've spent a lot of time outside since the temperatures began to rise and summer said I'm baaack. I have gotten very hot and tired, but haven't had the problems of the past. Yesterday was in some ways the worst, but it was also a fairly easy day. My brother, Jonathan, worked much harder than I did, and he did the vast majority of his labor up in the tops of trees. I had the easy job of burning what had been cut and feeding the fire to keep it going. Of course that meant I did have the hottest job going, even if it wasn't the most difficult. But I knew that. And I knew what the heat could do. I took steps to keep from overheating and suffering a crippling bout of heat exhaustion, or worse.
The first thing I did was drink lots of water. I drank about 4 liters of water and a 20 oz tea with lemon while working and then more water after quitting for the evening. When you are working in the heat, you have to drink. You can't wait until you're thirsty. If you wait until the need is obvious, you might have waited too long. The body sheds water in sweat. I was soaked. If the water is not replenished before the body gets too low, you're playing catch up. But if you drink regularly and often while you work, the body always has enough to cool itself without the threat of dehydration.
When I have been working on the chicken coop for Leah, I worked until the hottest hours of the day and then went inside. I would do the inside chores in the afternoon, and then as late afternoon approached and the temperature would drop, I would return to the outdoor labor for the last 2 or 3 hours of the day. I do this when I can, schedule the labor where it does the least damage, is the least draining. I learned this trick from my last boss. We would begin the day shortly after sunrise, when it was as cool as it would be during the day, work until 12 or so, then take off until around 4, skipping the hottest hours, and then work until dark. It meant the day felt choppy. It wasn't work and then done. It was work, long break, then done, but it protected us from the worst of the dangers from the heat.
Sometimes creative scheduling isn't feasible though, like yesterday. It would have been easy to say it's too hot, I can't be out in this and take off. Dad wouldn't have gotten upset. He hadn't even asked for my help. I heard the chainsaws and knew what they were doing and walked over to help take some of the load. But I don't want to use the danger and increased susceptibility as an excuse not to work. I just want to work wisely. So, in addition to drinking water I worked slow and steady. When I had to wait for the fire to burn enough and get hot enough to take more of the green limbs we needed to burn, instead of standing by the fire absorbing the heat, I backed off from the blaze and watched from the shade. This reduced my exposure to the heat from both the fire and the sun. And I took little breaks. I used the down time to my advantage, kneeling down and waiting until time to work rather than trying to be doing something constantly. It worked, and although my body aches, especially my back, from the work, I can function and the heat didn't get me.
What does this have to do with anything? Discipleship and recovery have something important in common. Service. Recovery is a call to service, and so is discipleship. Jesus called us to love God and to love others, to follow Him in doing what He did, which is to deny self and lay our lives down in service to Daddy for the benefit of others. And recovery, coming from the understanding that to have any hope of recovering from the spiritual malady that has enslaved us with the symptoms of habitual sin and addictions, requires we be rid of self. We need to be freed from the bondage to self, which is the root of all our problems. The quickest way to deny self, put down the selfishness and self-centeredness that plagues us and escape self pity is in service to others. In addition, to keep what we've been freely given, we need to give it away. Service is crucial.
Service is also exhausting and draining. Burnout is a very real danger. The answer is not to say well then I just won't be of service. The work needs to be done. You need to do the work. The lethargy of self causes far more problems than the work. But if we're not careful, we can burn up and out and be hurt in ways that make it impossible to work until we heal and recover, and that takes longer and longer the worse the case of exhaustion.
Drink before you're thirsty. Drink regularly and often. Jesus is the living water. Fill up, and then the work takes from full cisterns rather than sucking the soil of our hearts down to desert sand. Have a regular and frequent quiet time connecting with Daddy and drinking in relationship with the Spirit. Go through the day aware of God's presence and sipping from His cup This keeps our level of living water at levels where pouring out of ourselves doesn't run us dry and dehydrate us.
Creative scheduling. Know yourself and adjust accordingly. I don't do anything ministry or service or even chores before I have my morning quiet time and write the day's Moment, if at all possible. If an emergency or something that can't wait arises I handle it, but I stick to the shade...that would be the shadow of His wings. I lean on the grace to do what needs to be done in the right attitude of love and service, especially when I feel frustrated at being deprived of the quiet time I need. If it is necessary, He will provide shade and the breeze of the Spirit to energize us, refresh us and make us able to endure and do it. I've also learned that there are a lot of things that can wait, and not everything is even close to the emergency people want to pretend it is. Take the time to have scheduled quiet time that refreshes. Jesus gave of Himself fully and ministered to thousands. He also went off by Himself to pray and refresh His spirit.
Speaking of taking time, don't wait until you break down and just can't take it anymore to justify taking a break. You don't have to be going 24/7. In fact, you can't keep up that kind of schedule. Even the Creator of the universe rested and told us that we need rest. Jesus not only went off by Himself to spend time with Daddy, but He took time with Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and the disciples. Take a break and get some rest. I'm not saying get lazy and selfish, but you can't give away what you don't have. You need to recharge. Spend time doing things that make you feel rested and invigorated. Spend time with family and with friends who build you up rather than drain you. Flip the script from time to time. Freely you give, so don't begrudge freely receiving.
Taking care of yourself isn't the same as being selfish. It is being responsible with God's instrument. You can't be an instrument of His love, peace, joy and such, you can't be of maximum service to Him and others if you are neglected or broken from misuse. Daily time with God, drinking in the life-giving truth, spending time in the shade and and on our knees in the breeze, taking little breaks to refresh with activities and people who charge rather than drain, and taking bigger breaks (a weekend or a few days vacation or staycation can go a long way toward keeping us going), during the worst parts is not avoiding being of service or being lazy or selfish. These things keep us hydrated, keep us able to bear the heat and protect us from dropping from exhaustion and burning out. And then, when it really is necessary for us to go longer and harder than usual and during the danger times as well, we have more reserves to draw on and have learned to access the grace given by Jesus that enables us to endure all He calls us to endure.
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