Do You Have Cause Fatigue?

Marcus here. Over at New Breed of Advertisers, Sam Van Eman has confessed "I think I can't, I think I can't." Ouch, Sam. That's bleak, man. That's Cormac McCarthy bleak. I know what Sam means, though, and I appreciate his bold, if slightly shocking honesty. Sam explores the idea in much greater depth in his MUST READ article at Catapult Magazine called Melinda Mae Missiology. The title of his article refers to a Shel Silverstein poem. (Click here and listen to Shel's crazy reading.) I'm no Melinda Mae. I lack focus. I lack patience. I lack perseverance. To be honest, I'm flat-out tired. In fact, I have had "cause fatigue" for sometime now. You know cause fatigue, right? Ten Facebook "friends" everyday tell me I should support their causes: "Spay Your Dog" and "Recycle Your Cans" and "Change the World This" and "Change the World That." Oh yeah. And this one. Join our Facebook Blog Network. (Actually, that's not a cause. It's a cool Facebook plugin that looks like it will aggregate all of our content on Facebook. Or else it will just be a fancy Facebook blog roll. I'm not sure.) Even with the apologetic parentheses there, I feel bad about even asking people to join something else, click on one more link, stand up and digg or favorite or tag or participate in one more networking possibility or world improvement campaign. There are just so many options that we start to shut down. What else can we do except focus on the world in front of us? I don't know where else to work on building the kingdom of God--whatever that means exactly. I'm still thinking about Sam's article at Catapult when I make comments like that. Here's what I see in my life. I can be a good dad--and do things like watch a pickup softball game with my four-year-old son in the evenings. (We watched warm-up and ten minutes of the first inning last night.) I can be a good husband--and do things like encourage my wife after she has a tough rehearsal for Willy Wonka. (She's Mrs. Gloop.) I can work hard at my job--connecting people online, editing articles, and doing my best to pay writers on time. And I can write poetry. Which has no value in the free market sense, but it brings me joy. And for me, it is a kind of prayer. Sure I do church and charity stuff too, but the real mission of my life is what I spend the bulk of my time on. Work and Family seamlessly (hopefully) integrated with my Faith in God. None of those are very earth shattering causes. In fact, they seem almost cowardly in their simplicity. But they are what I do. Should I do more? I don't know. What do you do?