I am a nightowl. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not. I stay up to get “all the things” done before I turn in for the day and have a really difficult time going to bed. Of course, they never get done. There are only so many hours in the day. Good intentions…right?!? Most of the time I stay up to “do” and end up “doing” nothing. Nothing valuable at least. Many times I end up watching a true crime show or scrolling on my phone.
If I do try going to bed at a decent time, I lay awake in my bed with my mind swirling with all the “undones” of the day and the days to come.
Why?
Too much to do and not enough time
I think I fear that I’ll go to bed and in a blink I’ll be awake and have all the pressure of the previous day pushing down on me. The to-do list, the question marks, the decisions I have yet to make. Many of us suffer from too much to do and not enough time to do it. Am I right?
But, what am I gaining by staying up and being unproductive at night?
Nothing. I know it, you know it, we all know it.
In fact, I am just sabotaging myself for the next day. And the day after that. Without enough sleep my energy is drained, my focus is shot, my health suffers.
And yet, nothing changes.
Until…
“Going to bed is an act of faith”
I was listening to a podcast by Father Mike Schmitz specifically dedicated to this topic. The title of the podcast was “what is your bedtime?” He discussed what many of us struggle with. We set a goal time of when to go to bed and then don’t end up actually going to bed until much later. He said something in that podcast that was very simple but very convicting. “Going to bed is an act of faith.”
Psalm 127:1-2 says “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”
He gives it. Sleep is a gift from the Lord.
And if you accept it, He just keeps giving.
I recently started trying to get in the habit of going to bed earlier and getting up earlier in the morning. It has been difficult, I must say. Science would probably tell me my circadian rhythm is off. It will take some adjusting but I feel that starting is half the battle.
God is working while i am sleeping
What I have found is that God is working while I am sleeping. Now, when my alarm goes off, He fills my head with creative ideas that I can’t wait to get out to the world. The other night He did something that I deemed downright miraculous.
When I was saying my prayers before bed, one of the songs we sing in church kept playing in my head. The chorus says, “your words are spirit and life oh Lord.” The song was not played at church recently so it wasn’t a matter of still having it in my head from days before. In fact, I can’t remember the last time it was sung. It just randomly came to me as I was praying.
When I woke up the next morning, I opened up the app that gives me the daily readings at our church. The responsorial psalm that was being used for that day was, you guessed it, “your words are spirit and life oh Lord!” I was floored. God had put that on my heart at night and let it linger there until morning when I needed it. That was the focus of my Bible study time and I was really enriched by what I discovered, something I will share in another post!
sleep on his promises
He is working…all the time. And that bit of work that He has to do when you’re sleeping, you have to go to sleep so He can do it. There are blessings to be had if we just sleep on His promises.
Fr. Mike shared that Pope John the 23rd used to say, “Lord, this is your church, you take care of it, I’m going to sleep.”
I’ve adapted those words and use them myself every night. You can too.
“Lord, I trust you to take care of what I can’t take care of until morning. I am going to sleep.”
building a new habit
One of the best things that I started doing to wind down at night before going to bed is reading. Find a list of my book recommendations on the Faves page.