I'm running on empty and I still have to keep going.

Running empty feels like a personal failing rather than a fact of being made. Isaiah states plainly that even the young grow faint, then promises renewal to those who wait — which sounds like doing nothing and is the opposite. Eagles do not flap upward. They find the rising air.

The conversation

The child: “Daddy God, I'm running on empty and I still have to keep going.”

God: “Even the young men faint. Isaiah wrote that as a fact, not a warning.”

The child: “So being tired isn't failing?”

God: “'Even the youths shall faint.' It's built into being made.”

God: “Then something odd: the strength comes to those who wait.”

The child: “Waiting sounds like doing nothing.”

God: “It's the opposite. Waiting on Me is where the renewing happens.”

God: “'They shall mount up with wings as eagles.' Eagles don't flap upward.”

The child: “What do they do?”

God: “They find the rising air and let it carry them. So can you.”

The child: “I don't feel like I'm rising.”

God: “'They shall walk, and not faint.' Walking counts. It's still the promise.”

The child: “Then I'll walk today.”

God: “And I'll carry the height.”

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31, KJV