Don’t Quit After Easter—You Probably Just Need Rest

The Post-Easter Crash Is Real

Every 2-3 years, about this time, I’ve wanted to quit.
Easter is over. He is risen.
I had crashed.
My energy, my desire, my drive – gone.

Have you been there?

Maybe you are there right now. (Hopefully, not!) Or maybe you have been there before. Or perhaps you will be there some day. This post is for you. Note that I wanted to quit. I didn’t actually quit.

When Fatigue Turns Into Burnout

Sometimes I paused, took a week’s break, rested, drank coffee with friends, read books for fun, spent time with Jesus simply to spend time with Jesus, and was somehow, able to return. The problem often arises when we take too long to take a break. Fatigue becomes burnout. Burnout means that after a week, returning feels debilitating.

Resting when we are tired, but before we are burnt out, is incredibly important. I used to think that I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t stop. Who would do the hundreds of things I did to ensure that services were prepped, ready, and ran? How could I possibly convey the millions of nuanced pieces of information that I held in my brain to a ‘stand-in’?

In one of these seasons, when I was exhausted and on the brink of burnout, a mentor-friend said something so profound to me. It may sound a bit harsh, but it changed my entire perspective:

“You’re not as important as you think you are.”

I’m…what? Surely, she hadn’t said to me what I heard. How harsh, almost rude. Her tone wasn’t rude; it was concerned, and it came to be one of the greatest pieces of wisdom that anyone has given to me.

I’m not. I’m not nearly as important as I thought I was. Thank the good Lord! What a relief! In fact, in all the doing, while it was important work, it wasn’t going to be my striving and ultimate death that would save a single soul. Jesus did that for us already. I was breaking my back for God, when he was simply asking me to serve him well.

Why Rest Feels So Hard in Ministry

The care from my lovely mentor-friend didn’t end there. After her powerful reminder, she gifted me a week away for rest. No, wait, that sounds too gentle. She sent me away! Haha. It was exactly what I needed to continue.

Now, maybe you are saying, “No one is here to send me away for rest.” I realize that and I wish I could offer a week’s holiday to every children’s ministry leader, however, I, too, make a ministry salary! That said, what I can offer you is the nudge: take the rest that you need.

But…

• Who will arrange Sunday?

• What about my volunteers?

• What if something falls through the cracks?

• What if they realize they don’t actually need me quite as much as I thought?

What Happens When You Never Step Back

Let me answer gently: they might. And hallelujah for that! Ministry is not a one-person performance held together by caffeine and colour-coded spreadsheets. It is a body. And bodies only stay healthy when every part is allowed to function. When we refuse to step back, even briefly, we unintentionally teach everyone else to step back permanently.

If you never rest, your team never stretches.
If you never delegate, your volunteers never develop.
If you never unplug, your soul never exhales.

You are not the Saviour. That position has already been filled. Easter reminds us of resurrection life, not exhausted leaders dragging themselves across the finish line.

The tomb is empty. You do not need to carry the weight of the world on your back.

Rest is not weakness. It is obedience. It is trust. It is also a beautiful example to your own children and volunteers.

Trust that God loves his church more than you do.

Don’t Quit—But Do Rest

As someone who learned this lesson the very hard, painful way:

Take the break before your body demands it.
Take the pause before your heart hardens.
Take the coffee. Read the novel. Sit with Jesus without a clipboard in your mind.

So if you are feeling the post-Easter let-down creeping in, do not quit. But do rest. Step back. Breathe deeply. Let someone else carry the clipboard for a week and mental load for a week.

The resurrection means this: the work does not rise and fall on you. And that is very good news, indeed.