Insomnia
One of my favorite movies is built on this line: "When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep... and you're never really awake."
Scripture reminds us about sleep too: "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."-Psalm 121:4
I think that we go through life in a state of insomnia. We never really are awake. We are never really asleep. Too often, we tread life like we are taught to tread water. It is mundane, laborsome, and defeating. It lacks beauty, art, and peace. Where is the vigor? Where is the abundant life? The grays all run together.
I want to really sleep. I want to rest well - the kind of rest that you know after a workout - where every aching muscle in your body relaxes and then collapses only to rejuvenate after the rest. I don't want this just for my physical body. I want this for my soul. This is the call of Jesus - rest for the soul AND rest for the body. Rest from oppression and rest from worry.
I too want to really live. I want the abundant life that comes with knowing, honoring, sharing, and living in tune with the God of creation, the God of the incarnation, and the God of the Spirit movement. I want all the joy and love that comes with honoring God and loving neighbor. And I want it for others too.
But perhaps for me to really live, I must first really sleep. Sleep, biologically, rebalances our bodies. Rest in the Lord, spiritually rejuvenates our relationship with the God who has called us to be Christ's body - to live, to serve, and to love. I thank the God who gives me sleep, because it is that same God that gives me full life.
