Tired? You bet! I ‘m tired all of the time. I’m tired when I get up. When I go to bed I’m the worst kind of tired. I get tired when I’m exercising. Tired of doing nothing. Tired because I am working hard. Tired! Tired! Tired! Right now, I am bone-tired—and that is the worst kind of tiredness! It always sneaks up on me. Being bone-tired is more than being achingly tired—whatever that means.
Does the above summary say it for you? Do you frequently find yourself with too many of these condition? Is that the reason you clicked on the “Tired” word? If your answer is yes, there are two important questions for you to consider.
Do you think your tiredness is excessive?
Do you have about the right amount of tiredness for the amount of energy you expend?
If the latter is true, you have very little to worry about—unless you want to get an easier job. If you are excessively tired beyond the level of tiredness you ought to have, you need to discover the reason. See if these two questions help:
COULD YOU BE ALLERGIC TO A PARTICULAR FOOD? I went to a food allergist and found I am allergic to pork. About twelve hours after I eat it, I get bone-tired. I can barely put one foot ahead of the other. My legs feel weak. I have no energy. I feel anemic. It is a terrible feeling! I discovered this condition when I went to a food allergist. Check it out for yourself. If a particular food is a problem, you need to know it because there is definitely something you can do about it. I grew up eating pork. Not any more. I am “tired” of eating pork.
IS YOUR TIREDNESS CAUSED BY HEAVY TRAVEL? Check yourself with a few more questions: What time zone are you in? How many hours have you been up—without sleep? What day is this? Where are you right now? Where are you going? When you are not generally in touch with reality of such questions, your tiredness can get worse than it is now. You can get so tired that you have no accurate answers to these kinds of questions.
ALSO, CONSIDER THESE COMMON CAUSES OF TIREDNESS. Put a check mark by any of the following conditions that describe you: Are you over-worked? ___ Under-rested? ___ Bored? ___ Frustrated? ___ Fed-up? ___ Disgusted? ___ Is someone imposing upon you? ___ Has one or a combination of pressures caught up with you? ___ Do you feel drained? ___
Any of these—or a combination of several—can shoot tiredness right through to the bone. If none of these ring true for you, identify your own reason for being so tired. At various times when Jesus faced the situation of tiredness—maybe He was even bone-tired—He knew exactly what to do. He took one of three explicit types of action to attend to his tiredness: 1. Jesus chose to go to a quiet place when he felt the need to be alone. 2. He also protected himself through prayer. 3. He shielded himself from additional pressure by going across the lake away from the crowds.
Jesus frequently took one of these unique and effective steps. Perhaps only one of the following two will be sufficient for us: 1. Pinpoint the reason you are tired to the bone. 2. Decide what you will do about it—and do it quickly!
Be sure not to ignore No. 2, immediately above. After all, doing nothing will only compound your tiredness—by making you tired of being tired! (If you are tired of reading this, do what you need to do!)
Friends: (I mean Quakers and all of you!) Being overly tired is “no laughing matter!” Tiredness tends to keep us from laughing—or even having enough energy to cause others to laugh. Being tired is one of the most persistent reasons our humor diminishes. To become the “humorous person” we want to be, we must conquer any of the hindrances: being over-worked under-rested; bored, frustrated, fed up, disgusted, or feeling imposed upon. Let the people say, “Amen!”
Come back for the Second Coming of Tung-In-Cheek, the Ancient Chinese Biblical Scholar.
