Faith and a Good Night's Sleep

IT’S EASIER TO LIVE BY FAITH IF YOU’VE HAD A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

Sometimes cutting short your sleep to commune with God may, in fact, undermine your ability to live close to God.  A tired person is more vulnerable to temptations than the wide-awake.  The weakened body is more apt to be plagued with devil-pleasing self-doubt than one fed and rested.

Quiet times for prayer, meditation and reflection aid the Christian walk, but the notion that “more of the same” will continue to produce positive results is faulty.

The spiritual growth we aspire to cannot take place separate from sound care for the whole person.  Holistic ideas about the interconnection of spirit and body are surprisingly common sensical when we see it this way:

·        It’s easier to feel close to God when the Excedrin has taken my headache away.

·        Faith soars when the air is fresh and I’m biking briskly on a bright spring morning.

·        After a cup of coffee my spiritual condition is always improved.

Spiritual inspiration and enthusiasm can be mediated by physical interventions and activities.  This being true, faith builders will not only implore their adherents to worship in the traditional forms, including Bible study, prayer, meditation and song.  They will also encourage (Excedrin?  Caffeine?) the health-care of the body, spirit, and emotions. Exercise, vacations and travel, hospitality, friendship, good-deed projects, enjoyment of the arts help us spiritually. Folk-dance, the appreciation of beauty in nature,  fine craftsmanship, ecological conscientiousness (harmony with nature-creation), reading, hobbies, gardening, are good for our closeness with God.

Since we know that “everything affects everything else” we will design a well-rounded life-style.  A life free of guilt that some pastimes while well-enjoyed may be look unspiritual.  Spirit-raising pastimes bring us closer to God-pleasing service.