Fill vs. Drain

A few weeks ago Jeremiah came home from staff meeting having done an exercise in identifying what fills you up verses what drains you. He found it helpful to actually think about it and write it out and he encouraged me to take some time to do the same exercise.

So here's what I did:

Made 2 columns on a sheet of paper.
Labeled one fill and the other one drain.
Under these 2 columns I thought about:
- What am I doing?
- Where am I doing it?
- Who am I with?

Here's what I came up with:

My top ten fills:
-Exercise
-Coffee and quiet times
-Being creative:

• Blogging
• Photography
• Painting
• Sewing
• Gardening, etc.

-Quality time with Jeremiah
-Organizing/Rearranging/Cleaning
-Family time
-Reading
-Giving
-Getting away alone

And some of my drains:
- Feeling rushed
- Being unorganized/unprepared
- Entertaining
- Sick kids
- Negative people
- Having to be "on"
- Lazy people
- Traveling with kids
- Being off schedule
- Skipping exercise/eating unhealthy

Why do this?

We all have different activities and tasks that we love to do, things that leave us feeling energized and excited and refreshed. And we all have things we have to do that just drain us, empty us, and use up all our energy. And sometimes, even things that we love to do can still drain us.

I think Christ exemplified how to balance the two.

Of course he was fully God and continually sourced with divine power. But he was also fully human during his earthly ministry and subject to the same stress and drains that we are today. Scripture tells us that he made a habit of "getting away" by himself (Mt. 14:13, Mk. 1:35, Mk 6:46, Lk 6:12, Lk 9:18 just to name a few). I think this was his recharge and fill up time after periods of intense ministry.

If Christ recognized this need to be refreshed, I should look to his example and make sure I am allowing (or scheduling) in times for my own renewal. I am learning that this means I have to get creative or make other sacrifices to get that time...by getting up early, making myself say no to my to do list, or communicating my needs to Jeremiah in a positive way, or just learning to say no in general to things that drain me and hold no eternal value.

I said I was learning, didn't I =)

How about you? What fills you? Drains you?

If you get a few extra minutes I encourage you to make your own list!

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