Have you ever counted the number of times in a week you talked about how tired you are? Like a weekly “I’m so tired” tally? It’s almost like it’s a competition. A no-way-you-could-be-as-tired-as-I-am contest. Always an ugh of a pyrrhic victory, that.
Last week I was just sure I’d used up all the tired. My tired. Your tired. All the tireds. My tired was even tired of being tired. It was the kind of tired that feels really close to melting.
Does that ever happen to you? When you feel there’s no skip in your skippety and no zip in your zippety? Not even a smidge of zippety left for your whole doo dah day? You wonder if all the tired you’re currently tireding will require at least a week of recovery, by which time you’ll have a whole new slate of tired to deal with on top of the leftover tired you’re still tireding. A tired deficit.
Everyone talks about renewable energy. Maybe we could use a little more of that. Some renewable energy we could apply to all those tireds. Yes, an order of renewable life energy, please. To go.
I hope you know I’m mostly exaggerating a lot of my tired—just for joking’s sake. Mostly. But in all seriousness, whether I’m heading to Meltsville, or I’m hyperactively maintaining every skip and zip of my day’s skippety-zippety, I want to use every ounce of energy wisely and well.
Isn’t it amazing how often our energy begins to re-spark as we seek the God who renews? Connection to Him is life energy. It’s soul energy.
We might as well confess it, He is not always our first go-to. I want to guard against any tendency to seek first to refill energy reserves in some experience, or the latest book, or a plan or program, or even another person. All those can be great—even needed. But not first.
Lord, may I seek you first. Remind me. Renew me. Re-energize me.
I’m leaving a “note to soul” for myself, to hang onto this prayer. It’s a Psalm 62 kind of reminder. “Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6 CSB). Are you soul tired? True rest is God-generated. Only.
Guess what. That’s where joy sparks too. It doesn’t even matter if my body is tired. As long as my soul is God-seeking and Jesus-focused, there is a wonderful, steadfast joy energy that compares to nothing else.
Any other go-to plans (or even to-go orders) to re-energize a soul are weak, sad, fleshy—goofy. The God who adores you longs to regularly renew and energize your spirit. He invites you to come close. And then He lovingly holds you there. The very next psalm of David says, “I follow close to you; your right hand holds on to me” (Psalm 63:8 CSB). His right hand. His hand of power. There’s enough there to handle any and everything He wants you to accomplish.
Meanwhile, if you’re still struggling with a tired deficit on the physical side, hopefully it’s temporary. If not, take heart. You probably won’t melt. And at least you win the tired contest.