Inner Exhaustion

Based on excerpts from Ruth Haley Barton’s Sacred Rhythms

“[T]here are subtle sources of inner exhaustion.  We might be functioning out of an inordinate sense of ‘ought and should,’ burdened by unrealistic expectations about what it means to be a good Christian.

Since we’re not always sure how to live with our humanness, we feel guilty when we are tired, ill or grieving and try to shove it down rather than attend to it.  But it takes energy to repress these aspects of our humanness, and eventually the effort itself wears us out.

While our nonstop pace may be tied to genuine passion for what we do, we can reach a point where our genuine gifts and passions wear us out because we don’t know when to stop.

There are darker possibilities as well.  It could be that we are driven by a need to perform and feel that we are worthwhile only when we are achieving and doing.

Or unresolved tension and toxicity in some relationships may be very draining, but we don’t feel free to extricate ourselves from them.  Thus we are carrying a great burden of unhealed wounds thinking that we should be able to handle it, when in reality it is draining our life energy day by day.”

Opening Question - What one word stands out most to you in this passage?

Core Question #1 - What reasons does Ruth Haley Barton offer for the exhaustion experienced by so many Christians?

Core Question #2 - For which reasons (either Barton’s or other reasons of your own) do you most often allow yourself to become exhausted?

Core Question #3 - Why do these things have so much power over your behavior?  Consider what is going on in you at a deeper level.  (For example, maybe you are afraid of being seen as lazy because you were raised in a family where hard work was highly valued.)

Core Question #4 - What do you think Jesus wants to say to us about the reasons we have given?  (For example, “Even I rested on the 7th day.”)

Concluding Question - Who do you want to be—what kind of life do you want to be living?  What help do you feel you need to live well? (Dream as big as you want.)  What is a manageable step you could take in that direction?