Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.“Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.”

When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.”

Daniel 10:16-19

We were walking down a boardwalk, me and a friend who recently got a new job at the local county tax office. She was a high school history teacher before that at a private Christian school. I asked her if she missed teaching. “Yes, I miss learning and talking about history. I miss a reason to watch a documentary. I miss my colleagues. But you know what I don’t miss? The feeling that the work is never done. There’s always one more paper to grade, one more book to read, one more lesson plan to make perfect. I truly enjoy leaving work, and actually leaving work.”

Reflecting on her experience, I can see how the cloud of need hanging over the head of a nonprofit employee also exists. There’s always one more client, one more need, one more grant proposal. Compassion fatigue and burnout run rampant in the nonprofit sector. People with good intentions drop out and those who are truly amazing at caring lose their humanity. And there’s always that one person who takes advantage, perhaps unknowingly, and it steers us away from investing emotionally again.

Nonprofit Leaders, we are not the first to feel overwhelmed by vision. Daniel received the gift of gab. God anointed him as a mouthpiece with a very large vision. And Daniel felt the weight. “God, I can’t do it, I can’t!” he says (paraphrased).

In response, God acknowledges that Daniel can’t. Daniel can’t carry the vision and say what he needs to, without outside strength beyond himself. That’s what a good vision is—reaching for something that is beyond yourself, that you can’t do alone.

God acknowledges Daniel’s weakness but doesn’t stop there. He gives Daniel strength, but he also encourages him in that he is respected in the community: that he can. In essence, God partners with Daniel. Together, they are stronger than apart. And the conclusion of the story is that Daniel can say, “yes, let’s do this thing. I can with you” (paraphrased). 

Where in your life do you feel tottering on the edge of burnout or that the responsibility of the vision is too much? Who will you look to partner with and find some strength? Is there another organization you’d like to connect with to partner so both organizations are stronger? Is there someone at work who does well what you struggle with? When you have someone (or an organization) in mind, like this post. Let’s all be stronger together.

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© 2021, Mollie Bond. All rights reserved. Originally published at www.molliebond.org.