Article July 13, 1998 Issue

Guard your thought, improve your life

How one woman overcame burnout

By Lois Sauer Degler

I Had Been A teacher all my life and loved teaching. According to students' response and learning, I was a good teacher. Then at one point, while teaching at the university level, I no longer enjoyed the teaching or the students. I didn't feel successful or fulfilled; teaching was reduced to solely a means of income.

I thought about these words of Christ Jesus: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19). I reasoned that since God is my Father also, I, too, could look to Him as the source of my ability to do my work. I realized that my teaching was actually an expression of God's goodness. Before class I would acknowledge that, in one sense, God was doing the teaching—God as the source of love, the source of intelligence, the source of life (especially on days when I didn't feel I had the strength to be enthusiastic and engaging).

This helped me value teaching. It also lifted a burden; I wasn't alone, trying to do some difficult thing. I prayed to be more loving, joyous, fair, and clear, because I knew that's how God would have me be. I also prayed about my students, that they would feel worthy, secure, and safe in class, no matter what grades they received. I continued to teach, students continued to learn, but it still wasn't as fun as it once was.

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