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Thankful For An Interrupted Night's Sleep?


At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws (Psalm 119:62).
 

            Some people think it traumatic if they have to get up in the middle of the night. Some even keep their eyes closed as they walk to the bathroom, for fear of waking themselves so much that they don't fall asleep immediately when they climb into bed. Some people like the notion of falling asleep while praying and consider it a special time of "pillow talk."  I don't know if monks or nuns still follow the Benedictine rule to the extent that they get up in the middle of the night for a prayer time so that their minds are returning to thoughts of God.
            I was always taught that it's best to have 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. I also noticed that when my sleep was interrupted, the problem was made worse if I stressed out over not getting sleep. Then, quite a few years ago, I started waking up around midnight. I would get up, make a mug of decaf coffee and check the obituaries in the Wilkes-Barre (PA) newspaper. My parents families lived in the area for more than a century, so it was a chance to track down dead relatives and their survivors. I found that this time of wakefulness didn't seem to really bother me unless I got into a debate with someone. That habit disappeared last year sometime.
            Not too long ago, I read something about biphastic or polyphastic sleep. Instead of trying to sleep for 8 uninterrupted hours, one  sleeps for a few hours, then gets up for a short time and does something worthwhile before returning to bed for another round of sleep. The sleep/wake alternation takes place so that the person still gets the needed sleep, just not all at one time.
            What  if, instead of whining at God that we need to get up in X hours and we need our sleep, we were a little more like the psalm-singer and the monks? What if we spent the time we're awake thanking God for His righteous laws and contemplating them on our beds? That would be a change of pace for me. The past several nights I've been saying grace in the middle of the night, but it's not asking God to show me His grace, and it's not asking blessing on food, it's "Grace, lie down," and "Grace, what is your problem?" and "No, Grace, go to sleep." Perhaps tonight I'll add to that a "Thanks, Grace, for giving me the chance to contemplate morality and to thank God for His wisdom in how He designed the universe."

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