God, Give me Sleep

Restless nights, anxious thoughts, and a longing for sleep, but it alludes us. ‘God, give me sleep’ you pray

I’ve had times in my life where getting to sleep has been difficult. At other times, I would wake during the night and not be able to get back to sleep.

Sleep is so variable, isn’t it?

We ask those we might live with if they have had a good sleep.

We want people to have good sleep because we know that it’s the foundation for the day ahead.

Accumulated nights of sleep deprivation add up to fatigue and exhaustion. Our thinking ability can change.

As someone that dances with depression, whenever I go to the doctor for a medication review, the first question he asks is ‘How is your sleep’?

It’s one of those factors that contributes to one’s overall mental wellness.

Personally, I want more, and I want it to be deeper and more refreshing.

There are a number of different factors that can affect ones sleep.

Darkness of room
Temperature of the room
Noise – snoring, street noises, dogs barking, neighbours
alchohol
medication
Stimulants – coffee etc

Many of those can be managed, but I have found that for me, often there is something deeper going on.

There is a restlessness in my soul. A tension in my thinking. Worries, fears, and items unresolved.

Earthquakes in the subterranean of my subconscious.

I may be able to switch the light off, but the hamster wheel keeps turning.

God, give me sleep

A songwriter writes these words.

It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved. Psalm 127:2

Someone once said to me that God must not love them very much because they couldn’t get to sleep. That God was withholding it from them. Maybe because of something they had done and God was holding it back as some sort of punishment.

I don’t believe that was the case.

The writer of proverbs says this:

If you sit down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs 3:24

I want more of that. A gift of sleep that is sweet.

To receive a gift

I was recently given a shirt. It’s a lovely blue shirt with flowers on it. It’s the perfect size, and the giver thought deeply about what would look good on me. I’m wearing it now.

It would be rude of me not to receive it and try it on. When I put it on, I knew that this wasn’t just any old shirt. This was a gift bought with my welfare in mind. There was love involved.

I will wear it and it will remind of their love and thoughtfulness to me.

I think sleep is much like this shirt.

God gives us sleep as a gift. A shirt custom tailored to fit our needs.

God doesn’t want you to have a life of constant toil and struggle. Of being a work robot, never switching off.

Instead, God gives the gift of sleep. Time to rest, time to stop, time to cease.

But do we open our arms out to receive it.

For me to wear the new shirt, the gift, I had to take off my old shirt. It’s a choice, one that I alone must make.

God offers us gifts all the time, but we often have to let go of one thing to receive the new.

My personal approach to recieving the gift of sleep has a very habitual form to it.

In the hour before bed, I will most likely

Relax in a darkened room, maybe watch some T.V.
have a shower
brush teeth
go to the toilet
pull curtains
journal about my day
quiet prayers

What I am doing is that through the repetition of these and other behaviours, I am signalling to the brain that it’s time for sleep. I am opening up myself for God to give me sleep.

Sleep time is ahead

I slip into my bed
Pillow touches head
Rest from the day
Silence from noise instead

I have done what I have done
I now enter a new day
What will God be up to
As I slip and slide away

Into their arms, I rest
They know the pressures of my day
I whisper ‘Spirit come’
Make for me a new way

Think only of a shepherd’s song
Warm assurance of needs being met
Silence in their whispers
Loves sweet caress

I rest my body
I rest my thoughts
I come to quiet waters
Where only you can restore

In the places I don’t know
I want you Spirit to roam and flow
Undo the knots
Untangle the strain
Breathe your truth into my frame

I surrender all of myself
What I know and what I don’t
Come heal the hurt dark place
That threatens to overtake

Spirit floats into my room
Softens the pillows and folds down bed
Come, my sweet child
Sleep time is ahead

Ive written quite a few posts about sleep. They are listed below, but I thought I would offer something new.

A class about sleep, and you don’t need to bring your pyjamas.

It will be given via zoom. If you don’t have Zoom, then please download it if you want to attend. Otherwise the video of the class will be posted on YouTube for you to view there.

Class

Topics

The role of sleep in your day
Sleep preparation
Role of medication
Prayers, poems, journaling.
Training the brain for rest
Praying for the subconscious

Details

Time:

Saturday 25th January 7-8:30 am Auckland, Wellington

Friday 24th January 1pm–2:30 pm EST
Friday 24th January 11am MST
Friday 24th January 10am PST
Friday 24th January 8pm SAST
Friday 24th January 6pm GMT

Cost and attendance

The cost of this class is a donation. ($3 US minimum). If you can’t afford this, please email and I will send you the links.

Monthly donors receive automatic access. Become a monthly donor.

Once registered, class members will receive a Zoom link to the class.

In-person attendance is not required.

The class will be recorded and available for later viewing on YouTube

Signup using the form below

If you have any questions or comments, please email me barry@turningthepage.co.nz

Quotes to consider

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom. Francis Bacon
It’s hard to sleep when your heart is at war with your mind. R.H. Sin
Let me drink from the waters where the mountain streams flood
Let the smell of wildflowers flow free through my blood
Let me sleep in your meadows with the green grassy leaves Bob Dylan
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep. E. Joseph Cossman
Sleep is God’s contrivance for giving us the help he cannot get into us when we are awake. George Macdonald
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it. John Steinbeck
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. Irish Proverb

Questions to answer

What helps you to have a restful sleep?
How do you prepare yourself for sleep and rest?
What habits help you to get to sleep?

Formation exercise

As you go prepare to go to sleep tonight, write in a journal (pen and paper is best) all the tensions of the day. Those places where the heart is at war with the mind.