What to do when you feel fried …

I believe in vacations.

Both the long, extended kind where you get away, leaving your laptop at home and refusing to answer your phone, or the mini vacations of weekend getaways, or just an extra day off in a week as a “mental health day.”

We need real rest, we need real play and recreation. We need times disengaged from all the stressors in life. Yes, sometimes we just need some couch time or a little wallowing in a comfort zone.

While we may have real needs for these things, we live in a time and culture that likes to stretch our functional capacity to its limits.

Wait, let me correct that.

It OFTEN isn’t that society is the culprit for our exhaustion, it’s us. After all, we’re the ones who put all those things to do on our calendars. But it is true that there seems to be so much to do that sometimes, we just feel “fried.” But in the 21st century, we can feel like that on about any given day!

We can’t take a vacation every month, or a road trip every weekend. In all our busyness, we have to stay engaged and endure living life.

So what do you do when you’re feeling fried but can’t get away?

Play just one more inning.

Pastor Charles Swindoll shares the following story in his book, Growing Strong …

“When Ralph Houk was manager of the New York Yankees, baseball schedules were even more exacting than they are now, with double-headers almost every week. Occasionally a player would get sick of the grind and approach Houk, asking for permission to sit out a game. ‘I know how you feel,’ the manager would say genially. ‘Sure, take the day off, But do me a favor. You’re in the starting lineup. Just play one inning. Then skip the rest of the game.’ The player would honor Houk’s request — and almost invariably get caught up in the spirit of the game and play it out to the end.”

Although life sometimes feels like a grind, there’s real joy in being engaged in it! Sometimes just playing one more inning is all it takes to stir up our passion for living and give us a second wind in a difficult day. And like a good coach challenging his players, when we’re feeling fried we can go to God to find times of refreshment …

“He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint,” Isaiah 40:29-31.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.

When you’re feeling fried, play just one more inning. Turn to God for refreshing, and look to Jesus to teach you how to live life with a lighter yoke.

Scotty