I’ll never forget the summer after I turned fourteen. It was memorable, but not in a good way. While my brother was out learning how to water ski, I was home being caregiver to our mom who was recovering from surgery. Not great, right? But that wasn’t the half of it.
The same summer I also developed seasonal allergies, and…I also began a forty year battle with insomnia. Apparently, I’m not alone with that irritating issue. According to the CDC, at least 35% of adults say they do not get at least seven hours a night.
DISCLAIMER/WARNING: Wow, this post is all over the place! So sorry, Dear Reader. Must be the effect of not sleeping well lately.
What about you, Dear Reader? Can you count on getting the rest you need on a regular basis?
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention had plenty of staggering facts and statistics about sleep, some I probably didn’t need to read. Most of us know our need for rest changes over time. What doesn’t change is the correlation between not getting enough rest and its side effects. Some of the most overwhelming facts from the CDC concerned the consequences of not getting enough rest, like impaired reasoning and safety issues.
Tom and I haven’t used an alarm clock for years. Most people are amazed when we tell them. It makes me wonder, Dear Reader. The first mechanical alarm clock wasn’t invented until 1847. How did people ensure they got up at the right time before 1847? Was it more common “back in the day” for people to get enough rest, and so be able to easily rise when they needed?
This is simply speculation, but I think if Jesus said something and it was recorded for us to have, He must have thought it was important. Seems to me Jesus knew the value of getting enough rest.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11: 28 RSV)
Look closely at the Scripture, Dear Reader. Jesus is asking us to strike a bargain with Him. What! Read it again. Jesus is willing to give us His rest when we can’t or don’t get enough rest on our own. All we have to do is “come”. He even tells us in Matthew 7:7 (among other passages) that if we need something all we have to do is ask and believe Him. Sounds like a good deal to me; swap my weariness for His rest.
My One Word 365 this year is “ENOUGH”. I’m thinking maybe the rest (sorry, truly no pun intended) of my year will go better if I learn to ask Jesus for His rest whenever I don’t get enough on my own.
I really like the picture bookends, they look like rest to me. What does rest look like to you, Dear Reader?
Rest is soooo important! I’m guessing people before the 1840s slept according to the light sources. If they were wealthy and had plenty of candles and fuel, they could stay up as long as they wanted. Everyone else went to bed when the light ran out ;). I’ll have to look up those facts for the changing consequences of sleep deprivation for different ages. Also, I observe the Sabbath once a week–no alarms, no technology or social media, and I concentrate on worshipping God in all his splendor and glory. I’ve found this to be especially important during the hormonal years when my sleep is more likely to get interrupted by hot flashes ;).