12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or much;
But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. (Ecclesiastes 5:12 NKJV)

This week was rough. Big project wrapping up at work and me down a few days with flu. The flu caused my sleep to come difficultly, but work was more physical and had me pretty exhausted each night from full days. Thus, last night I slept like the dead.

Those weeks when my work is more physical than mental, like this one, and the efforts to do a job well do make for sweet nights of sleep. In too many other cases where my work tends to be more mental and the week’s exhausting in that way means my mind had trouble shutting down. Probably because the mental fatigue does not match any physical fatigue. I think this is why I have run across so many successful people who have much but never seem happy.

God meant for our labor to be hard, this is what Adam’s fall created. There was to be mental and physical fatigue at the end of the day. We are so far away from that type of labor now that most of the fatigue is just mental.

Reflect on: What really exhaust you each week. Are you laboring for God or simply for your success?