Delegate, Delegate, Delegate

So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?...I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once!" [Numbers 11:11, 14-15, NRSV]

Moses and the Israelites found themselves in the midst of the desert and wondered how they would survive. God provided manna and water but soon afterward the whining began. People began to long for the "good old days" in Egypt where there was plenty of meat and vegetables to eat. [How quickly they forgot they were also slaves while living there!] Moses tried to deal with all their drama single-handedly and suffered burn out in the process.

God's solution was a simple one: "Delegate, Moses, Delegate!" Moses appointed seventy elders who shared the burden of ministering to the Israelites and I'm certain his stress level went way down afterwards.

How is your stress level these days? It's easy to become overcommitted, especially when there are so many worth causes that clamor for our attention. LGBT advocacy is hard work because there is always one more thing we can do to help the cause. The important lesson we learn from Moses is that we are not supposed to carry the entire weight of the queer world on our shoulders. We are meant to share the load with our brothers and sisters so that no one gets completely and totally fried. This is an especially difficult challenge for us tenderhearted folks but it is a lesson we must learn if we are going to consistently bring our A-game to the table.