Being tired

Before I was married with kids, I used to wonder why my friends who had kids often responded to my question "How are you?" with one word: Tired. Now that I have four of my own, the word "tired" has become a part of my everyday vocabulary.

Last night in the Griggs' home was especially eventful as our son Deacon was up most of the night (I do not exaggerate here). He was crying, then fussing, then fitful, with occasional brief interludes of sleep in between. As we rubbed the goo from our eyes this morning we discovered the problem: He had an ear infection that was draining through the surgically implanted tube of his right ear. At least the tube was doing its job of relieving the pressure. No wonder the little guy couldn't sleep. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as everyone was up and getting ready for their day, he laid down in the middle of the living room floor and fell fast a sleep.

I find that I sometimes get tired in my walk with Christ. Life gets busy, Bible study seems tedious, I am sleep deprived, school and family activities keep me hopping, etc. About the last thing I want to do is be some peppy cheerleader for Jesus, so I settle for lazy. Besides, nobody likes the "never-had-a-bad-day-in-my-life-and-I've-got-the-perpetual-smile-to-prove-it" kind of Christian. You know the ones I'm talking about. They say words like "Gracious!" and "Mercy!" and have never had a bad day in their lives. Even if I wanted to be that way I don't think that I could.

In the garden of Gethsemane, on the night before Jesus' crucifixion, a couple of His closest followers fell asleep on Him. They were tired and, while they probably had no intention of tuning Jesus out, that's just what they did. And that's exactly what I do sometimes. I grow tired of trying to be disciplined or of trying to be the perfect Christian model for others to follow (which I never actually am). But in feeling this way I miss the point.

Jesus doesn't really care how much I do for Him. In fact, He'd rather I do very little at all as long as I obey Him and love Him. After all, I don't ever seem to grow tired of doing things for myself.