Passion Fatigue

I appreciated this brief article that Pete Greig wrote for the 24-7 Prayer website last week.

It's still challenging for me to read stuff from 24-7.  I have a very mixed history with them, from really meeting God deeply and discovering a heart for intercession in various prayer rooms, to some really rough experiences that took me to a place where it was well over a year before I was even able to venture into a prayer room again.  (And then, the first time I ventured back to one, I sat alone in the basement, quelling all the fears and memories and trying to really enter into worship in that space, and a fight quite literally broke out upstairs above me!)  That said, I am continually challenged by the lives and writing of some of those deeply involved in 24-7, and these days I work to be thankful for the good things that movement added to my faith, and not focus on the really painful memories.

I know the feelings that Pete is describing, though I think sometimes I get tired reading of all the reports of God's work and goodness simply because I'm not living in a place right now where I get to see much of that first hand.  After a while about reading about the things God is doing elsewhere, I get dissatisfied with the ways that I know he is working here.  I want "bigger and better."

And yet, I was struck by Pete's conclusion, as he spoke about the couple who simply wanted him to help them thank God.  Because that moment is one that is deeply moving, I think, and it reminds me to carry that contentment and thankfulness that I've been working to develop and carry with me.