Have you truly looked at your New Year’s calendar of events? If it looks like mine, you have already filled every day in January and February, and have two days left in March in which to find something to do! Joane and I celebrated our 16th Anniversary this past week with her leaving for Austin and me teaching her class and preparing for a training session Thursday and Friday in Pasadena. Oh, did I mention that we celebrated her birthday Friday with a “big blow-out” in our training session! I have things double-booked and must decide in which one I will participate. My schedule is too busy to attend a funeral of the mother of a friend of almost 30 years.
When I think of all the things I must accomplish, I get tired! There are many days when I am seemingly too tired to remember important dates and events. I know that the Iowa Presidential Caucuses were important, but I will just try to watch the re-runs; likewise the Bowl Games.
But, I am not alone! We all are tired these days, and proud of it! We work hard and pay for it with chronic fatigue. We are often too tired to go to bed without taking a nap on the couch first. We awaken, often later than we hoped, to begin our day with a cup of coffee to try to get us moving, because we are tired. We are living in the fast lane, but are we living well?
Most of the time all of us are burning the candle at both ends. I heard it said that “the hurriered we go, the behinder we get!” Are we perpetually tired as victims of the grind, or is it a case of just poor planning? I have found that we usually get time to do the things that are truly important to us. I cannot remember a Sunday morning when I was too busy to get to church! I find few working people who find themselves very often too busy to get to work! Most of us realize that if we are that busy, the boss will find someone who has more time for making him money.
People who are overworked and overtired hurry along a road of diminishing returns. There is nothing that we do that is improved by fatigue; on the contrary, much is diminished. How much more productive would we be if we were not always tired. I recently heard (you probably did too) a comment by a “star” that “this is the earliest I have ever been late!” He said it with pride, but those waiting for his arrival were not smiling. He is running hard, but accomplishing less.
If being tired was a virtue, we would be the most virtuous generation to ever populate the planet. But, how often do we wear the badge of tiredness proudly on our chest? I do not believe that is could be successfully argued against that “our generation is the most irresponsible, selfish, and unfeeling generation to ever work overtime!”
What would our Creator say about our weariness? Matthew recorded that Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” How about tapping into that!
The Lord loves us more than we love ourselves and His invitation is extended because He knows we need rest. Everything breaks down unless we take time for daily maintenance.
When I was 13, I hired out to a farmer to work in his corn and hay business. Each morning we had a routine. It did not matter what chore was pressing that morning, we did not begin the chore until we followed our routine. It did not matter if our cut hay, lying in the field, was going to get wet, which would lessen its value, we had to do maintenance. For us, maintenance meant getting the grease guns filled and crawl around each piece of farming equipment to find every “cert” on it. We would then fill that “cert” until grease bulged out of the openings.
When it came time to work on the mowers, not only would we grease it, our task also required that we sharpen every “tooth” so the machine would have to work as little as possible. A breakdown in the field would always cost us more time than the maintenance required.
I have learned working with Papaw (Joane’s almost 91 year old father) the importance of buying new saw blades and replacing them often. I have learned that when cutting wood with a chainsaw, that the sharper the blade, the easier the task. So back off, sharpen your saw and reassess your priorities – your life will be better for it.
Abundant living requires more than stress tabs and eight hours of sleep – it required a quieted heart! All of us can find that kind of heart in Jesus!
