The Value of a Good Night of 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 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. 

·        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.  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 the health-care of the body, spirit and emotions through exercise, vacations and travel, hospitality, friendship.  Spiritual growth is also the product of good-deed projects, enjoyment of the arts, folk-dance, the appreciation of beauty in nature and craftsmanship, ecology efforts, reading, hobbies, gardening.

Confident that “everything affects everything else” the growing Christian will be one designing a well-rounded life-style.  Spirit-raising pastimes can bring us closer to God-pleasing service.