Fatigue

"How are you today?"  The older woman asked me.

"I'm pretty tired," I said.  "Otherwise I guess I'm fine.  And how are you?"

"Well," she paused.  "Frankly, I'm pretty tired too."

I think tiredness is part of the adult condition.  I'm sure there are a few wealthy souls who sleep nine hours every night, never waking up until their alarm clocks go off to invite them down to a leisurely cup of coffee and southwest omelette.  They certainly don't come to see me at my office.

My patients are often convinced they have thyroid conditions.  If you google "Medical Reasons I'm tired," I think that must be the first thing that pops up.

In medical school, I was convinced I had leukemia and even made my mother (who is a family doctor) run a CBC on me to make sure I didn't have it.  I was just so tired.  Fortunately, I knew that once I was done with my residency training things would get better.

Think again...

My experience is that when you are an adult and you have children you are always a little fatigued.  I live on six hours of sleep a night and often that is broken up by a mixture of phone calls and the occasional sick child.  I didn't know how good I had it back when I was twenty-one and could sleep as long as I wanted to on weekends.

There are many Scriptures that speak of strength in the face of adversity, but one always stands out to me, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."  (Gal 6:9).

This summer, because we were moving, we did not plant a garden and we have no harvest.  While others are picking their tomatoes and watching their pumpkins turn orange, we are thinking about next year and the things we hope to plant.

Everyone of us will get tired -- maybe from working on our gardens, or taking care of our children when they have stomach bugs at night, or even delivering babies.  The question is whether the things which we are investing ourselves in are good and worthwhile.

Only then will our harvest be worth reaping.