“Taking a nap may be the most spiritual thing you do.”
That was the quote that I remember hearing at one time. I am frustrated because I cannot remember if it was something I heard in a sermon or lecture or if it was something I read in a book. Either way, the point is that I did not have this original thought.
Last night, I did something I have not done in years – went to sleep early and got a good, long, full night’s sleep. I woke up this morning without yawning and without hitting the snooze button five times. I feel good. I feel focused.
I normally do not sleep that much. I usually stay up pretty late and I usually wake up fairly early. I seem to function really well despite my lack of sleep. I normally think that is another reason why I am doing exactly what God wired me to do (ministry). However, I understand that my sleeping patterns are normally not the most healthy of habits. I wish I was more self-disciplined when it comes to sleep.
After my long, hard night of sleep I began to remember the earlier quote. I began to ponder, “Is sleep spiritual?” Why did God create us with the natural need for eight hours of down-time each day? God put us down here for a limited number of years; and approximately one-third of that valuable time is spent dreaming rather than producing.
If sleeping is spiritual, we are not very good at it. According to the National Sleep Foundation (by the way, very interesting website), the average adult sleeps 6 hours and 58 minutes per night during a normal work week. Compare this to 100 years ago – before Thomas Edison’s marvelous invention – when the average adult slept about nine hours a night. Indeed, we are a nation of people who are chronically sleep deprived. Sleep specialists recommend that we need eight to ten hours of sleep nightly. I do not do well with that recommendation. Do you?
More importantly than the physical effects of sleep, what about the spiritual effects of sleep? The person who made the sleep being spiritual quote explained that when we go to sleep, we complete surrender all control and place our unfiltered trust in God’s hands. The idea is that God will take care of you and the world while you sleep and that you trust that he will wake you up. This makes sleep spiritual.
Lauren Winner, a writer for Catalyst, explains that “to sleep, long and soundly, is to place our trust in Him without whom we labor in vain.”
So what do you think? Is sleep spiritual?
The irony here is that I am posting this subject at 12 AM.
2 comments:
I don`t think it is spiritual but it does show we trust him when we can take all of our everyday worries, our cares and leave them in His hands while we do what is good for our well being. God is so good.
Sleep is one of the most foundational aspects of being human. So yes, I would call that "spiritual". :)
Post a Comment