This is January meditation names the urgency, expectation, and the relentless pressure to do more. This is a little bit satirical. For if you know anything about me, you know that my priorities are justice, community, and cause. But we also have to practice resisting burnout in a culture that demands everything–even in the social impact culture of changemaking. We might have good intentions, but too often exhaustion is under the surface, and we become motivated by guilt, co-dependency, saviorism, etc… Can we have the courage to give from a place of rest? If you chose one thing this year, I pray that you’ll make refill and recovery a priority. For this is how advocacy work stays sustainable.
It’s A New Year, They Said
It’s a new year, they said.
A year to commit to volunteer hours,
to reach deep into your pockets.
Let’s get committed!
It’s only January, they said,
and the world is already on fire.
Be informed—consume it all, take every action.
Why aren’t you resisting harder?
It’s that time, they said.
A season to advocate louder.
Stand in the gap here. Show up there.
Won’t you be a voice for the voiceless?
Pull out your calendar, they said.
Be at this meeting to plan all the meetings.
Build everything to grow our ministry
Isn’t our message to serve like martyrs?
Be a village, they said.
Make goals to be a better neighbor.
Organize mutual aid. Rally community.
Can’t you make friends with more people?
It’s a new year, I said.
Seek justice. Practice love intentionally.
But beware the endlessly sucking black hole of need.
Give—but please give from a place of rest.
