Do you ever experience burnout? Those times when you feel like you cannot do one more thing, remember one more responsibility or even write a few words? A number of years ago, this happened to me on the job. It required a medical leave of absence and still affects me to this day.
If you have experienced any form of depression, whether from job burnout or stresses from your life, I encourage you to try to recognize it and take the time to talk to your medical doctor.
When Bettie started our web site, we had no anticipation of the volume of work we would receive...after all, we were retired and thinking of filling a little part of our time. Well, we have had a constant flow and have added to our reviewer list...and still, there have been times when we were backlogged! Not really complaining! Hey, we enjoy what we are doing.
However, each of us should come to know how much work we can handle and when it is too much for a while...then we need to take a break and stop doing as much as we have been.
So, if you missed seeing what I've been doing, well, I'll try to catch up...no matter what, there's always been a book or two waiting with a bookmarked page! And I've been taking advantage of some of the beautiful weather, in between rain, to expand my garden of flowers, even adding a sort of gazebo for my climbers! My irises were beautiful this year and I was so thankful that I had free time to water and "deadhead" them each morning. God surely gave us the greatest gifts right outside our doors!
Oh, I did want to share the following with my readers; it meant a lot to me and I thought you might enjoy:
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Heartprints of Kindness
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."1 "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God."2
William Wordsworth also said it well: "That best portion of a good man's life; his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love."
The following well-known anonymous poem is well worth a reminder:
"Whatever our hands touch –
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture
On doorknobs, dishes, books.
There's no escape.
As we touch we leave our identity."
So for today's suggested prayer: "Dear God:
'Wherever I go today
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.
'Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.
May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter
Or an anxious mother
Or perhaps an aged grandfather.
'Send me out today
To leave heartprints.
And if someone should say,
"I felt your touch,"
May they also sense the love
that is deep within my heart.'3
--Daily Encounter
So I'll close for today, with just a last thought--I hope I've left heartprints on the books I do for each of my clients!
God Bless!
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