Off The Mark With Fatigue

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." - Jeremiah 31:25

I remember the day I took my then-9-year-old to her first archery class.  She had been practicing with a toy bow and arrow for years and eagerly anticipated the day when she could get her hands on the real thing.

After stretching and warming up, she finally strapped on a protective arm guard and picked up a real bow.  She straddled the firing line, aimed, and let her arrow fly.  It streamed through the air, straight and true.  Success.  One after another, her arrows hit targets fifteen yards away as her smile got bigger and bigger. 

I have no idea how many arrows she launched, but after about 40 minutes her bow was tipping to the side and her arrows hit low on the target.  Fatigue led to a loss of focus, and therefore, less accuracy.

I’ve sure had that feeling as a mom.  When I am tired, I am much more likely to ignore an offense that really should be disciplined.  I serve food that is easy to get on the table, even if its nutritional value is marginal.  Dawdling is allowed to the point where the kids go to bed later than normal when I don’t have the energy to keep them on track through the bed time routine.

When mom is tired, everyone suffers.

Now, when this happens occasionally, I don’t worry about it.  What concerns me is when it becomes the normal state of family life.  Sometimes what starts as fatigue turns into apathy.

Mom, please make the commitment today to take whatever steps are needed to give yourself more energy.  Maybe you need more sleep.  Maybe you need to cut sugar or simple carbs from your diet.  Maybe you need to eat more veggies, or take a multi-vitamin, or get some exercise.  Maybe you need a little downtime to just play.  Maybe you could ask God to help, and spend some extra time in prayer with the Giver Of All Good Things.  You may even need to experiment with some different ideas to figure out which ones really make a noticeable difference for you.

After putting down her bow and stretching again for ten or fifteen minutes, my daughter went back to the firing line and started hitting her targets again.  As moms, we can be on the mark as well with just a little refreshment.

What do you do to re-energize yourself when you start feeling weary?