To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

I haven't posted in the last week or so; every time I would sit down to type something, my mind would go as blank as the screen. I haven't even wanted to read anything lately, which is weird for me. Why this total apathy for the written word - perhaps for life in general? One word: sleep. Well....actually the lack there of is what is giving me fits. I try to stuff so much into my days that my nights are shrinking to the point that 6hs sounds like a full night's sleep. I fall asleep in random places during the day, yet these impromptu naps don't seem to count at the end of the day; they don't seem to replace a good 8 to 10 hour stretch of pure, unadulterated sleep.
I find that living low on sleep is a lot like doing your laundry and never putting it up, just living out of the hamper. You do load after load as time passes, and things just get worse. Soon the only thing left in your closet is that sweater that your aunt Margret gave you - you know, the one with the reindeer with the blinking nose. Everything else is on the floor (or any other flat surface) or in the hamper. That's how my mind gets with too little sleep, and it takes forever to get everything back in order.
Sleep is one of those things that doesn't seem so important until its lacking. I suppose I should have put a greater value on sleep considering God mentions it so much in the bible. I shall try to do so from now on, so sweet dreams to you, my friends.

Meditations for Hibernation

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. —Psalm 3:4-5

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. —Psalm 4:8

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. —Psalm 127:1-2

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will findrest for your souls.—Matthew 11:28-29

My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. —Proverbs 3:21-24

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. —Ecclesiastes 5:12

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. —Genesis 2:2

Some more verses about sleep, but they are about too much sleep
Proverbs 19:15
Proverbs 20:13
Proverbs 24:30-3
Proverbs 6:6-11

Adulterous Protestants

I went to a funeral the other day. It was a catholic funeral, and as I was sitting in the pew, I picked up a booklet that was stuck in the back on the pew in front of me. It was on the proper ceremony for a catholic funeral, and it was surprisingly thick. I never knew that there were that many rites observed or observable in a funeral. As a baptist funerals are somewhat free-form. As I sat there somewhat distracted by all the pomp, the officiating priest announced the sharing of the bread and the cup. As he did so, he instructed those gathered on the proper way to abstain from the sacrament yet still receive a blessing. I listened as the priest gave various reasons a person would wish not to take the cup, such as having eaten breakfast and thus not having fasted beforehand, or being in the proses of becoming a Catholic, or perhaps being an "adulterous Protestant." I caught that last one out of the corner of my ear as I was pondering the trouble that has been caused over the sharing of the bread and the wine over the centuries, so it gave me a little jolt.
On the way home I mentioned it to a friend who had attended the funeral with me; she hadn't heard that, and as we discussed it, it came out that he had actually said abstaining Protestants. That is a somewhat different thing - in fact it would be hard to be both abstaining and adulterous at the same time!
How often we perceive things to be one way when in reality they are totally different. We see people laughing and think that maybe they are laughing at us, or someone tells us we look like we've lost weight and wonder if we looked fat before. Why is it we always assume the negative option is true instead of the positive?
The Bible says that man can see only what is on the outside of a man while only God can see the heart.* We often take that to mean that a person can look like a good person on the outside, but God can see the scum that clogs his heart, but couldn't it also mean that God can see the pure motives when all we can see is the untimely chuckle?

*1 Samuel 16:7

The Naked Truth

What is it with men and nudity? Its as if they are born with a vendetta against clothes. Watch any group of preschoolers, and there will be at least one who will strip down the second the teacher's back is turned. I knew a guy in high school who always signed his letters and e-mails with Micah 1:8 written underneath his name; its doubtful anyone ever looked that verse up to see what it said, but I think they would have been surprised!¹ I had another friend who's grandmother tattled that they couldn't keep clothes on the boy until he was 11yrs old. Each time they would turn around he was naked again. I don't think men are mad at Eve so much for getting kicked out of the Garden as for making them have to wear clothes.
I was sitting out the other morning when this man came jogging up to me and asked me how to get to a good jogging trail. He was wearing a pair of gray shorts that would have fit a 4yr old, and that was all - well, I suppose he had on shoes, but I didn't look. Actually, I could hardly look at him at all. I was not that he was flabby - because I couldn't see an inch of fat anywhere, and he wasn't hiding much - it was more that he was practically naked, and despite what they think, naked is NOT a good look on most any man. As he stood there prancing in place (to keep warm most likely) I had to tell him that it was against campus policy for men to be without their shirts. Since he was almost off campus anyway, he continued with his jog. Normally I would have been worried that someone going jogging before dawn in that area might get mugged, but anyone could see that he didn't have anything on him.
The next day I watched him running down the street again, this time in tiny red shorts. He was headed back on campus; he stopped at the front gate and plucked a shirt out of the bushes and slipped it on before entering. For some reason he was determined to run around scantily clad. Maybe he thought he looked hot (or cool) that way.
So often we do things to try to impress people or express ourselves, and we don't realize that we just look silly and naked (not a good naked either). We "dress for success" and try to "fake it till we make it." We worry about what people see when they look at us, about what they think about us. We seem to think that image is everything, so we run our government by opinion polls. We spend so much time worrying about our outside ans our image that we forget that its whats inside that counts the most. We have become like whitewashed tombs - pretty on the outside, filled with shriveled nastiness on the inside.² We tend that who a person is and what a person thinks on the inside is what defines him.³ Perhaps we need to stop comparing what we see in the mirror with what we see in magazines and start comparing our hearts to God's. Maybe we wouldn't like what we see half so much, but that doesn't mean we don't need to see it desperately.

¹"...I will go stripped and naked..."
²Matthew 23:27
³Proverbs 23:7

Skies of Blue Remind Me of You

The night was dark this morning, all but moonless, when I rose to start my day. I thought it was a moonless night till my eye caught on a slender crescent hanging low in the eastern sky, it's waining edge sharper than a knife's blade. There was something particularly entrancing about this curl of silver thread set upon a sky of velvet midnight blue, so delicate, ethereal and transcendent, so primitive, elemental and solid. But One hand could form such a work; but One mind could formulate such a paradoxical wonder. Truly the skies proclaim the wonders of the Lord! The works of His hands show forth His glory.* The slender crescent moon and the ethereal wisps of rosy, gilded cloud that shortly replaced it's silver form on the eastern sky are monuments to His wisdom and love. If we but sit and look and listen, we will realize that He has hidden Himself away from us through the thinnest of gauzy veils that we may have the joy of seeking His face. He has not hidden Himself away, but walks among us every day seeking to draw us closer. He is truly an awsome God!

Psalm 19

God's glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.

Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

God makes a huge dome for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun's a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed, The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape.

That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.

The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes.
God's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.

God's Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You'll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.

There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

(from the Message)

*Psalm 19:1