Fatigue

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all". That is a Vince Lombardi quote. It was part of his motivation for his players to be in such good condition that they would not experience the same level of fatigue as their opponents. My connecting flight was delayed a couple of hours last night. Not only was the flight delayed but it was also overbooked. I don't know if fatigue makes everyone a coward but it certainly makes a lot of people grumpy. Every once in a while someone who was very tired would respond with such grace and dignity it was like a light in the midst of darkness. A man and his young son were flying stand-by. They had been given seats and were actually inside the plane seated apart from each other when the flight attendant called their names to let them know they had to disembark and try for the next flight in the morning. The father walked back to his son, his shirt wrinkled from an already long day and said," Come on little buddy" and he smiled. And there it was...the light. Since it is so close to Easter it made me think of Jesus and how tired he must have been in the Garden. One of the most amazing things about Jesus is he never blamed his behavior on anything outside of himself. He never snapped at someone and then said,"Oh, I've been trying to get home for 10 hours. I am really tired". It makes me wonder how many times I blame my behavior on things outside. One of the things I need to remember is that I am not the person I used to be. I have the Holy Spirit inside of me now. That means that I don't have to respond the way I am used to responding. Today, I am tired, that is true. But that doesn't mean I have to be a coward or a grump. I can be a light and respond to the situations today with a grace and a dignity that can be stunning.