Sleep

Today is a dark rainy day and although I got up early, I am now ready to go back to bed for a nap!  Down through the generations, one thing I think we can all agree on is that we value our sleep — some more than others – nevertheless, we do love it.

I’m a sleep expert, at least in my circles … which would be Bill and me and our children, and now you, I suppose! I know what keeps me from sleep, I know what helps me to sleep, and I know exactly what is needed on a road-trip to sleep quite comfortably in the car. I even know the exact moment when, as I work on going to sleep, it isn’t going to happen for me.  I know how much time is needed to sleep, while having a variety of responsibilities the following morning. I know how long I can go without sleep before I become totally irrational and nonsensical (actually, let me change that — Bill knows exactly how long I can go before I am irrational and nonsensical).

We have a mattress that is so thick and plush that I almost need a little boost to get into bed! I love fresh, crisp, white sheets that break when you pull the comforters back. My comforters are white, Ralph Lauren, thick, soft, down comforters in all their glory. We currently have two on the bed but there are others nearby if need be. These comforters do exactly what they say — they comfort me. I love to push my feet into the sweet spot of an extra fluffy square of down.

Pillows….one of the most important sleep items.  I have three pillows.  Two of my pillows are a bit thicker than the other. The other is my favorite. It gets to go everywhere with me, cause I can smush it down into a tiny ball if necessary. It wears a different pillowcase than the other two because it is special.

I went to Wikipedia to see what they had to say about pillows and this is one of the paragraphs stated. “Pillows have long been produced around the world in order to help solve the reoccurring problem of neck, back, and shoulder pain while sleeping. The pillow was also used to keep bugs and insects out of people’s hair, mouth, nose, and ears while sleeping.” I honestly wished I hadn’t even read that last line because that is my greatest fear — bugs crawling into some orifice of my body. I’m going to just leave it at that and move on.

 I have some additional gear needed for me to sleep well. I will list them in order of importance. I need my phone next to me charging; a large cup of ice water with a lid — I will settle for a water bottle when traveling by plane; a “white noise” noisemaker; a fan softly blowing directly on me circulating the air in the room; a tube of Chapstick; a dark room or a sleep mask; and, of course most importantly, Bill beside me. He is very low maintenance regarding sleep — He simply gets into bed, then as his head hits the pillow, I count….1,2,3,4,….snore!

As ridiculous as this blog is today it is actually a huge part of our lives. Don’t they say we average about 25 years of our lives asleep? I think that warrants some discussion. It’s so odd, we lie down and until the sun comes up we sleep, hopefully. We get refreshed so we can get up and do the same thing all over the next day. The Bible talks about sleep many times. One I like is Ephesians 5:13-14 … “But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, “Awake, O’sleeper, and arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.” I use these two verses to make the argument that Jesus doesn’t want us to get up before the light gets up. It works for me.

Today, I read from my Experiencing God devotional and it was Matthew 26.   This is the story of Jesus with his disciples to the garden of Gathsemane on the night before He was to be arrested and then crucified. He asked them “to keep watch and pray….  for the spirit is willing but the body is weak.” Matthew 26:36-44.  The disciples were asleep! At one of the most profound moments in history, the disciples were too sleepy to pray with the Son of God.   I love sleep, but I’m hoping I can keep things in perspective. We rest and then we focus on Jesus and His plan for the day.

Refocusing on Jesus today, and then maybe a good rainy day nap!

Just Jesus,

Sheri Langley

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