Sleep Therapy

The amount of sleep I got in late August through the middle of October might be compared to that of someone recovering from surgery or illness. I was falling asleep in the evening by nine, waking up at 6:30 and sleeping a full hour in the afternoon. I only woke up from the naps because of setting my alarm and needing to be somewhere - I'm sure I could have slept another hour given the luxury.

I've always needed around 7 or 8 hours at night, w/ about a 20 minute catnap in the afternoon after having kids. But these past two months were different - more sleep than I've ever had as an adult. I speak in past tense because my body isn't requiring that amount at this point. This only started happening after Samantha went to school; I had already been taking all my meds for awhile so it wasn't linked to side effects from them. Rather, when the demands of life finally lessened, my body started to shut down.

I think I've finally slept off the stress of years of daily struggle with Samantha, being uprooted from routine and having a very sick son, and my own illness and lack of ability to function.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just take a pill that gave your body all it receives naturally from sleep? Or (if you're familiar w/ Trekkie terms) wouldn't it be cool to just step into a Borg rejuvenating unit?

As I think about this two things come to mind. God created sleep to restore what we use up. It's like economics. Limited resources. What gets used needs to be replaced. Sometimes we use up way more than we can replace, our circumstances push us past our limits. In those times we have no choice but to persevere and hope the day will come when we can regain some balance.

The other thing is that God never slumbers or sleeps. His energy never runs out. We can take comfort in knowing His resources are always available to us, no matter what situation we face. Years of stress take their toll, and sleep won't always fix it, nor does sleep come easily in some cases, but there is always hope if we remember God will supply what we don't have.