I had often read and been told that as we get older we need less
sleep. I did not find this to be true. What I did discover is that
though I was sleeping less I was no less tired. And when I am tired I
struggle with feeling cross, crabby and discouraged, especially when I
am lying in bed hour after hour unable to sleep, knowing that morning
will soon arrive and it will be time to get up and go to work, exhausted
once again.
Such times of sleeplessness, I have also learned come
and go in cycles. The majority of my aging friends confide that they too
struggle with this issue and the doctor says there really isn't much to
be done about it other than to accept that it is part of the aging
process and to try and catnap as time allows.
Anyway, one morning
as I crept from my bed after another minimum sleep night I began
grumbling in earnest to God about the situation and how unfair it was.
You KNOW I have to get up and go to work, and yet how am I supposed to
do all I need to do, and do a good job of it when I am so tired yet
again! And that was when that still small voice whispered these words
within my mind: Remember the loaves and fishes and look up to heaven and
give thanks.
And so that is what I began to do and continue to
do. I thank God for the sleep I have received, no matter how minimal,
and that it will be sufficient for the tasks at hand. And much to my
amazement it always is. In fact I usually not only have enough energy
for what must be done but energy left over for the things I really want
to do, without feeling cross, crabby and discouraged from lack of sleep.
So today if you are struggling with a lack: lack of sleep, talent,
money, wisdom, in fact anything, remember the loaves and fishes and look
up to heaven and give thanks for what you do have and then be prepared
to see how God blesses it.
Prayer: Father God thank you that even
the smallest offering we lift up to you becomes more than enough in your
hands. Bless us this day with faith to offer and receive. In
Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Lynne Phipps
Atlin, B.C.
