Sermon Illustrations

Barbara Brown Taylor – being exhausted

I do not mean to make an idol of health, but it does seem to me that at least some of us have made an idol of exhaustion. The only time we know we have done enough is when we are running on empty and when the ones we love most are the ones we see the least. When we lie down to sleep at night, we offer our full appointment calendars to God in lieu of prayer, believing that God—who is as busy as we are—will surely understand.

Barbara Brown Taylor, explaining why she is taking a year of Jubilee in 2000, not accepting any out-of-town speaking engagements, and working only 40 hours a week in ministry. From "Divine Subtraction,” The Christian Century (11-3-99)

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