The Simplified Soul: Sleep
Let’s keep it very simple today. Day 2. In the book “The Good and Beautiful God,” James Bryan Smith has a spiritual practice after each chapter. The first practice?
Sleep.
When we are short on sleep, we are overextended. We are rushing. Hurried. Frantic. Unkind. Entitled. Rude. Our soul so often lives to the edge of the page. Our world feels more complicated when we are short on sleep. All those nights (you may be experiencing right now) up with a crying baby left me with a warped persoective. Oh, and the kindness? Out the window. Sleep restores compassion and kindness to ourselves and for others.
This week, plan to sleep. And sleep well. Turn off electronics an hour before you go to bed. Put alcohol away. Drink warm calming tea. Breathe. Get 8 hours of sleep. Trust God enough to stop being productive (or to stop scrolling unproductively) and lay down. We sleep by faith. We sleep believing God will protect us. God will provide for us. God will restore our soul.
Meditate on Psalm 23 today and plan to sleep well this week. Simplify the soul with sleep.
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.”
“The human person is not merely a soul housed in a body. Our bodies and souls are unified. If our bodies suffer so do our souls. We cannot neglect the body in pursuit of spiritual growth. In fact, neglecting our bodies impedes our spiritual growth.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows
Sleep tight tonight!
Amy