Jan. 17, 2013

Jesus said, “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 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. – Matthew 11:27-29

Yesterday, I got home about 5 PM. Exhausted. I crawled unto the couch and announced to Rick that I needed a nap before supper. Thank goodness a family from church had dropped off a pan of lasagna. My dutiful husband cooked it via the indicated instructions. When I woke up, he brought me a plate right to the couch where we ate supper, notable since we rarely eat supper in front of the TV.

After supper, I napped a little more, did an hour’s worth of work, watched a little TV and took another couch nap before going to bed at 12:30 AM. As I headed to bed, Rick questioned whether or not I would sleep after napping so much already.

I am not a very good sleeper. I haven’t been since about 7-years-old when I started having a hard time getting to sleep. I also often wake up in the middle of the night and am not able to sleep again until it is time to get up. I go through periods when I can get good sleep. Other times, sleep evades me. In my 20’s, I went to a sleep doctor. I was the only person of non-Social Security age at the clinic. She professed that I have the type of personality which makes sleep a life-long struggle. Great.

My mantra the last period of time is simply to be happy with whatever amount of sleep I get. Since Thanksgiving, sleep has been a premium. It’s been a few hours a night and once in awhile, maybe six hours. That’s good for me!

Until last night. Do you ever get to the point when your body is so tired it physically needs rest? That was me last night. Even after getting more sleep in the last 20 hours than the last week combined, my body didn’t want to move this morning.

Once, a little person asked me if God sleeps. “How does God know what is going on around the world when God is sleeping?” As human beings, we impose onto God things necessary and required for us but not required for God. How much did Jesus sleep? I have no clue. We can tell via the Gospels that his physical body needed rest and that he took those times. He modeled regular times of “rest.”

Sleep is restorative in many ways. Our physical bodies need time to heal, recoup and restore. Sleep allows for mental and emotional restoration. My soul literally also needs rest. For me, the challenge is turning off my brain so I can get to sleep and allow for restoration to happen.

Jesus wants to teach us how to rest; to share our burdens; to restore ourselves. Because of Jesus’ humbleness and caring soul, he wants us to find restorative rest. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for providing this to me last night.

Lord God, our bodies get tired. Our brains and minds get over extended. Things just get piled higher and deeper in our lives and the tunnel seems excruciating long. Please provide the necessary rest and healing we need in our lives. May we come to you as a source for restoration of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beings.  Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne