Christ calls us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:8-10), and He warns us that “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).

But how can we find the capacity to serve and carry our crosses when we feel like we’re running on empty? When we may even feel like we barely have the capacity to fulfill our daily obligations?

1. Allow the Lord to Fill You Up

When we’re in emotional or physical burnout–this is the time to lean into the Lord, to make time to rest and to allow Him to fill us up. We can’t pour from an empty cup: Only when we allow the Lord to pour His love into us will we have the capacity to then pour out His love to others.

After all, our Lord told Martha that Mary had “chosen the better part” (Luke 10:42) when she chose to simply be present with our Lord rather than anxiously serve Him, and Christ Himself would often step away to quiet places to pray.

Serving others is a blessed and essential part of our vocation, but our ministries and everyday acts of service should always point us back to Him.

Indeed: What’s the point of serving Our Lord if we don’t make time to simply be with Him?

2. Stand Against Spiritual Desolation

Emotional or physical desolation can easily lead to spiritual desolation–and the temptation to avoid, rush, or skip our usual time of prayer. As St. Ignatius advises in his Rules for Discernment: this is exactly the time when we must insist upon maintaining our usual prayer practices. (And believe me, I’ve fallen into this at times too. But what’s most important, when we realize what’s going on, is to simply get back up.)

According to St. Ignatius’ advice:

• Ask God for grace to face the desolation
• Meditate on Scripture verses that remind you of God’s love and providence
• Reflect on how God has already worked in your life
• Examine what led to this spiritual desolation and burnout, and thus how to spiritually combat it (see point #4)
• Practice temperance, offering up any temptations to deal with this desolation in unhealthy ways (e.g. too much TV, social media, alcohol, etc.) and finding healthier ways to cope

3. “Do little things with great love”

This is also a time to be aware that love doesn’t always have to look like big gestures, long hours of community service, or achieving grand accomplishments… Sometimes (most of the time!) it looks like the “little way” of St. Therese: to do “little things with great love.”

Much of the time, it may look like just showing up for our daily responsibilities and for our friends and family with patience and kindness, and offering up our daily struggles for the salvation of souls and our other prayer intentions.

It’s the every-day courage of persevering in the battle in our minds against the enemy’s lies, against the fears and insecurities that threaten to keep us from living the life God is calling us to–and the humility to keep asking for His grace rather than relying on our own capacity.

4. Reflect on the Cause

It’s also important to reflect on what has caused our spiritual, emotional, or physical burnout. For example: Do we allow ourselves proper time to rest? Are we worshiping productivity or accomplishments? Do we place too high expectations on ourselves, feel the need to earn love, or fear not being good enough as we are?

These are all things to bring to the Lord in prayer for Him to continue to heal, so that we can develop a healthy balance of work and rest in our lives.

5. Accept Rest as Part of Our Vocation

We also have to remember that we are human beings–not merely spiritual, but body and soul–and our bodies and minds need rest just as much as our spirits do. Sometimes the most prudent thing we can do is take time to rest so that we can best live out our daily vocation tomorrow.

Though we may not think about it often, even Christ (as fully human as well as divine) certainly needed to eat, rest, and simply spend time in communion with His disciples. He even slept on a boat during a storm!

Stewarding our bodies is a part of our vocation. After all, we are temples of the Holy Spirit, and God created us as a union of body and soul for a reason.

When we take care of our bodies as well as our souls–and lean on the Lord where we fall short–He will grant us the grace to live the vocation of each day.