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District Ministries Panel Secretary

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December
Advice
I Love You

November
38. Bald is beautiful
37. Fire
36 Sleep
35 Music

October 2006
34. Stupidity
33. Painting
32. mmm Pasties
31. Built to last
30. Phlegm

September 2006
29. Meetings
28. Crime thoughts
27. Colours
26. Unwanted guests

August 2006
25. Comparison
24. Waterproof Mascara
23. Tasty MSG
22. Helplessness

July 2006
21. Attraction
20. Hair
19. Hero
18. Laughter
17. Factoids

June 2006
16. Voiceless
15. Bruises (ouch)
14. Sunburn
13. Mistakes

May 2006
12. Arms
11. Willow Tree
10. Eurovision
9. Chicken
8. Addictions

April 2006
7. Age
6. Celebrities
5. Language

March 2006
4. Commonwealth Games
3. Decisions
2. Drizzle
1. Trelawney

SLEEP

Sleep. It is vital, it is essential, it is nice and I am lacking it! I am so tired that I may nod off whilst writing this, so please excuse any long periods of non-writing due to dozing!  

I like sleeping, and am usually quite good at being able to sleep anywhere (except on transport – don’t know why?!) which is a skill my brother shares with me, and which we gained from our mum. She once fell asleep on all fours trying to write her diary whilst on a hotel bed. Her bum was in the air and her head squished the diary underneath it, when she suddenly came round not remembering what she was writing and not realising she’d even been asleep! Ah, bless! But recently I’ve not been getting much sleep.  

This weekend was my birthday party, whereby some friends from far and wide gathered for much celebrating. Fun was had by all (I hope!) and as the evening drew on people departed for home or the comfort of a nearby bed or sofa. All but 4 of us that is, who stayed up chatting and watching films (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Dirty Dancing – 2 of the greatest films ever made and if you’ve never seen them, shame on you – go rent them now!) until 6am! Yes I got a total of 2 hours sleep. Then last night I got a surprise call from a friend who was in town for a conference (I know, who would hold a conference in Wakefield?!) and who wanted to meet up. On a night I was looking forward to catching up on some sleep, we stayed up chatting till midnight. So I sit here now shattered, zonked, knackered, jiggered, weary, exhausted, fatigued, worn out. I am tired!  

I have never been allowed to sleep in – it seems it’s ok by my parents to fall asleep in the early evening but heaven forbid you want to sleep past 8am! The echoes of “you’re wasting the day” and “see how much you could get done if you got out of bed and actually did something” resonate around the Husk household. So when I actually think about how much I could get done in the hours I sleep (obviously not much this weekend then!) I feel guilty and incredibly lazy. That sleeping is somehow an act of sloth and that great chunks of my life have been wasted – at aged 28 I have spent 9.28 years of my life asleep. At aged 16 you’ve slept for 5.30 years and by the time you reach 60 it is a whopping 19.89 years! So we spend around a third of our lives snoozing. Oh my gosh – who knew it was that long? It makes me wish I was an insomniac so I could get more things done while those around me are snoring!  

But as I sit here, propping my eyes open with matchsticks, I struggle to work, to type, heck to even think properly. I am slow and distracted and not all there (no comments about my usual state of consciousness please!). So what would I be like with even less sleep? We think about the creation of the world in Genesis and we see how God rested on the seventh day. We know that although Jesus was no ordinary man he still needed his sleep in order to get in a good day’s teaching, healing and world saving. Why do I think that I am therefore singled out as being lazy for needing rest and recuperation? Why is it not ok for me to get a lie-in when God didn’t even get out of bed on day number 7?  

It’s the same with my spiritual life. I get it into my head that I need to be actively praying, reading my Bible, singing hymns, telling people about Jesus and saving Wakefield from Satan’s clutches to worship God, to be in His presence and to be loved by Him. But it’s not true – God doesn’t get all moody when we fall asleep or when we don’t get up at the crack of dawn, muttering about us not talking to Him, and that while He’s awake we should be too. No that’s not God, that’s my mum! I have to remind myself that my whole life is worship to Him, including the times when I eat, veg-out watching cult classics on the telly, when I hang out with my mates at parties and even when I sleep. It is ok to just rest in the presence of God snoring your head off (not that I ever snore!), it is good to free your mind from life’s burdens by doing absolutely nothing. If the human body needs sleep in order for it to function properly so our souls also need periods of inactivity to rest with God in order that we may be refreshed, raring to go and ready for a new challenge, just like you feel on a cold Monday morning! Do you spend a third of your life resting in God’s love? Maybe it’s time to stop all the frantic stuff that fills our Christian lives with and pause with God to discover His deep and peaceful rest. We might not always notice the benefits of this prefect rest, but when we cut it short or miss it out completely we can’t sustain the energy and passion for long.