“The Tireds”

May we be refreshed as by streams in the desert                                                             Psalm 126:4 (Living Bible)

Yes, that is a weird heading for a blog – “The Tireds”. In fact, I’m pretty sure that “tireds” isn’t even a word. But for my purposes, it works, because today I want to talk about three kinds of tired. Since we are physical, spiritual, and mental/emotional beings, I contend that we can get tired in each of those dimensions. We are typically used to thinking of being tired as a physical phenomenon, and indeed, that happens to all of us.

Yet, we can be emotionally or spiritually tired, and we often pass it off to what we know experientially- being physically tired. As we know, the remedy for being physically tired is sleep. We take a nap (or we drift off during that favorite show in the evening- OK, I do), or we go to bed for the night and sleep in order to get refreshed. That, of course, is how it is supposed to be. Sleep is the remedy for physical tiredness.

But how about the remedy for emotional or even spiritual tiredness? Is sleep the remedy for those? I would say no, it is not. The remedy for emotional or mental fatigue is often exercise, or a physical activity that gets our heart rate up. Sleep can be merely an avoidance when mentally or emotionally fatigued, not a remedy. I suggest often to my clients that if they recognize mental or emotional fatigue- “exercise until you are physically tired”. With that, they have energized their mind and often helped clear it of thoughts which are dragging them down.

So, physical exercise is a possible remedy for mental/emotional fatigue, and sleep is a remedy for physical fatigue. What might be the remedy for spiritual tiredness?

Well, much of that depends upon your spiritual orientation, as well as your experiences with God. However, I would suspect that a universal refresher for spiritual tiredness is gratitude. Take a few minutes every day to simply be grateful for what you have been given in this life, and acknowledge the giver. That always gives perspective, and it reminds us that no matter what our current circumstances, we have been richly blessed.

Prayer: Lord, you give us ways to refresh our bodies and spirits. Give us the discernment to know how to refresh, Amen