Falling Asleep

You brush your teeth and put on your PJs, turn down your bed, and climb in. You browse Pinterest & Twitter on your phone. You read a chapter or two of an ebook on your reader.



Image credit: Day 137: Bed Time by Tom Small via Flickr

11:00 turns into 11:30, then 12:00.

What are you doing? Are you so consumed by words that you can't go to sleep? Your eyes are heavy; your yawn stumble out on top of one another.

You make mental to-do lists-- one for home, one for your blog, one for work, one for homeschooling, one for Christmas, one for John's birthday-- until you lose focus. Your thoughts are floating around the room, dangerously close to evaporating. "Write them down," you think.

You pad into the kitchen, where the fluorescent light over your sink is blinking like it's starring in a horror movie, and search for paper and a pen. You draw lines on the paper to divide your categories, and start to list away... "1. Replace light over sink." You scoot your pen to the next category... "Finish post about music appre
c
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n." The last letters slide sloppily down the edge of the envelope you'll need to mail the electric bill tomorrow because you're too exhausted to plan ahead.

What are you doing? Are you falling asleep? Are you falling?

You need some juice. You attempt to take the lid off of a full gallon of Mott's while holding a juice glass in the other hand and the refrigerator door open with your foot. You slosh juice everywhere. You're too tired to clean it up, and yet you aren't sleeping.

Why are you awake? What are doing?

Do you hear someone calling? Your bed? Your child? Your husband? Something else? Someone else?

Go to sleep, beloved. Fall into your bed, fall into your dreams-- your God-sized dreams, fall into Jesus.

Image credit: Bed by Quinn Dombrowski via Flickr

Read here Psalm 121; it's better than warm milk:

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

He's watching over you... and He won't succumb to sleep. Perhaps He has stationed angels at the corners of your home, keeping watch for what comes to steal and destroy, armed and ready. Perhaps they sing sweet praise to their King, and yours. Can you imagine their sweet lullabye? Perhaps His very hand is covering you-- shielding you, keeping you because you are His. So close you eyes, little one-- we are His little ones, His children-- and drift into His rest.

My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Isaiah 32:18

This post is part of 31 Days of Fall from October 2013. See all 31 posts here.

 

Shared with Time-Warp Wife