running on empty

Do you ever get the feeling that you're running on empty? That there's nothing left inside you and you're just kind of going through life with no emotion, no passion, no energy . . . no nothing (OK, OK I know that's bad grammar, but it's my blog so I can write what I want).

Running on empty . . . that would describe pretty much how I've been feeling lately. It's not the most pleasant way to go through life. It gets tiring pretty quickly.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this (since last night when I realized how I was feeling so forgive me if my thoughts aren't completely finished on some of these things) . . . and wondering how do you get beyond that feeling of running on empty? How do you "fix that problem" for lack of a better word?

I mean, I'm still going to church and reading my Bible and praying . . . doing all those things that a good Christian should do. And they don't quite seem to be working. So, what to do?

I think sometimes just doing the things we know we should do isn't enough because they should be a part of our lives all the time, not just when we feel empty. When we feel like we're running on empty, we need to do something different that helps us to connect with God and be filled again by Him.

What sorts of things work? I think every person is different and so different ways are going to work for them. For some people it might be getting together with a group of people and for some people it might be going off someplace alone. Some people might want to be in a church with traditional symbols and sounds, while others want to be outside in nature.

All people are different and will connect very differently with God and be filled by Him in different ways. The key is that when we feel like we're running on empty we do something about it.

I know for me it means that I need to get out of the noise of city life (however small my city may be in comparison to yours) - to a place where I can be alone and surrounded by God's incredibly beautiful creation. But, I also need to balance this with getting together with fellow followers of Christ to dig deeply into God's Word and challenge and pray for one another.

What about you? What would you need to do?