Don’t Waste Those Sleepless Nights
Oh those sleepless nights! We stare into the darkness, twist the sheets and re-shape the pillow. We check the clock and moan as time marches toward the alarm.
Insomnia makes people do strange things. I read about a woman who cleaned house in the middle of the night. The next day she discovered she’d thrown out many things she should’ve kept.
Night’s wakeful hours make problems seem larger. We worry about things that never cross our minds in daylight. Sometimes anxious thoughts roar around our minds like an out of control race car. In the morning exhaustion grips body and mind, as if we’d never slept at all. What robs us of sleep? Pain, fear, guilt, sorrow, stress are often culprits. Other times, it’s nothing we can pinpoint, sleep simply flies away.
Although no one enjoys sleeplessness, night’s wakeful hours can be useful. The quiet of darkness is a good time to lift our worries to the Lord in prayer. It’s often easier to do this while lying awake in bed because our days are filled with distractions.
King David was acquainted with sleepless nights and wrote of them several times. In Psalm 16:7 he tells how God gave him instruction during the night. The idleness of night gives God an opportunity to drop His thoughts into our minds. Many difficult problems have been solved during a wakeful night.
Instead of wasting sleepless hours fuming about tomorrow’s fatigue, let’s use them to commune with God.
“If I’m sleepless at midnight,
I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post”
Psalm 63:7-8 (The Message).
An award winning personal experience writer, Rose McCormick Brandon’s work is published in a variety of magazines, books and online sites. Rose is a professional member of The Word Guild, an editor, ghostwriter, Bible study writer, teacher and speaker. Visit her blog Listening to my Hair Grow at rosemccormickbrandon.wordpress.com.
