Creative work is challenging and has the potential to deplete you. How can you most efficiently sustain your career and life?
Sustainability is the buzzword today. By 2035, California and the nation are charging forward (no pun intended) to outlaw all gas-powered cars in the United States. Benjamin Franklin would be elated if he were alive today. Electricity has never been more in demand! We are consumed with media messages pushing us to be more sustainable, to consume food, fuel, and building materials from renewable resources.
How can we electrify our souls more efficiently to sustain us in our daily lives and work?
Remember the song “Manic Monday”?
It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my fun day
My I don’t have to run day
It’s just another manic Monday.
Monday mornings always hit hard. Our to-do lists can be daunting after a weekend of diversions that usually consist of family time, sports activities, hobbies, and media consumption. We are forced to confront the tasks that weren’t completed the week before, on top of more tasks already planned for the upcoming work week. It can be depressing and overwhelming if we haven’t been refueled with Jesus, our renewable Source.
Here’s how we can refuel and refill our soul’s energy tank to sustain life on planet earth:
First, remember who God says we are in Him and stay filled with God’s renewable energy – the Word.
We can’t do everything or be everything to everybody, so be mindful of your time choices. Make sure you keep the schedule that’s best for you, and not the one that the culture touts as most fulfilling. After Covid shutdowns face-planted us, we were forced to examine what we had been spending time on and then re-prioritize what we should be spending time on. Now that we have finally gotten back into the rhythm of work and life, we’re ready to change it up. We’re ready to change our time-wasting and destructive habits. But that “desire to change” window will only be open briefly. If you don’t determine how you will spend your time, the culture will, and you’ll be back fueling your life with all the stuff you don’t want. Refueling must include the intentional infusion of God. God’s sustaining fuel found in His Word can’t be denied.
Research has proven if you aren’t engaging with God four or more times a week, you’ll make no significant positive changes or choices in your life, and you’ll be no different from someone who never reads the Bible. The research went on to say that the number one reason we don’t engage with God is that we’re too busy. Don’t keep denying it. You need to plug into God’s everlasting life-force, the Bible, and engage with Him. Like Aaron and Hur who held up the arms of Moses in Exodus 17:9-13, God’s Word and time in prayer with Him will be the arms that sustain you. He never gets tired and His strength for you never runs dry. He is our sustainable Source.
Second, know that the devil‘s army seeks to unplug us from that Source. So, “seize the day”. God’s fuel running through your soul is powerful.
The question is… what scripture verse or promise will you use? To put fuel into our cars, we need a pump. To put fuel into your soul, you need to have a pump. It’s the armor of God. Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on God’s complete set of armor provided for us so that you will be protected as you fight against the evil strategies of the accuser!”
Our power source will fail every time if our pump fails, so keep your armor on and in working order. Stay prepared. You make yourself vulnerable if you get distracted by the busyness of life, with unimportant diversions or media distractions. We are to turn not to the left or the right, but focus our eyes on the promises and truths found in scripture to sustain us.
Keep your eyes on the horizon of what God’s promised you specifically for your life and work. For thousands of years, sailors on the seas focused their gaze on the horizon and not the water below the boat. We become vulnerable when we aren’t keeping the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit flowing through us. The faulty world-empowered sources that promise us sustainability are actually unsustainable. The world seeks to fuel itself with temporary happiness, but it’s a substitute for God’s eternal joy.
Finally, never forget that God’s love has conquered it all – Romans 8:37-39.
On the cross, Jesus became the fuel source that will never run dry. His resurrection power is all we need to overcome daily challenges. Nothing and no one can ever separate us from His powerful reservoirs of sustainable love and energy. Not only does He have great plans for you, His plans are perfect, and He won’t let your fuel tank run dry – even on Monday mornings!
Here’s what you need to ask yourself:
Who or what will you put your trust in today?
Will it be science, the stock exchange, a political leader, a pastor, a friend, or any other seemingly reliable sources of wisdom and strength?
Will you plug into the Word and trust in God’s plans for you?
Will you allow the most sustainable renewable energy force in the Universe–the Holy Spirit–to flow into your life and, most importantly, flow out of your life to energize and sustain others?
He is our Power Source, so hook up and let your life be run on the miraculous.