I Like to Sleep

I like to sleep. I like to sleep. I like to sleep sleep sleeples and…uh, that song definitely doesn’t work past the “I like to to sleep” line. {Please tell me that you know this song too. “I like to eat. I like to eat. I like to eat eat apples and bananas.” Then you sub out the vowels and it goes A lake to ate, A lake to ate, A lake to ate ate apples and bananas –all with the long vowel sounds. Alright already, I’ll stop now.}

So yeah. I like to sleep. A lot. When I don’t get enough sleep I shut down. Physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s rough and I don’t like it. So I try to keep my body from going to that place of exhaustion. For me that has always tended to look like late nights and late mornings. The buzzing alarm is my enemy, but the snooze button is my bestest friend. That is just the way that it has always been and how I thought that it would always be. But over the past few weeks I’ve begun to discover two things:

1) When I wake up really early, despite the first 5-7 minutes of misery,  my mind is clear and I am ridiculously productive and astute.

2) No matter what time I wake up in the morning, early or late, I’m just no good at productivity late at night. I want to turn off my mind and just veg a little until it’s time for bed.

This is a revelation. And it’s bowling me over in disbelief. I’m slightly terrified to concede that it has to do with age– after all, my grandparents wake up at some ridiculously early hour like 3:30am. But since I can feel it, I gather that it’s just plain ol’ truth and that I need to listen to my body and work with it instead of fighting against it.

I think that there is something inherently Biblical going on in my heart in conjunction with this. I’ve always loved the Proverbs 31 woman. She doesn’t make me feel inadequate {I know that some people really struggle with comparison to her ideal}, but rather she inspires me to try it her way. This is what I know about her and sleep: “She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast for her family and organizing her day. She looks over a field and buys it, then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden. First thing in the morning, she dresses for work, rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.” Proverbs 31 excerpt MSG.

By George, I think that she was on to something. I used to inwardly roll my eyes and gloss over those little shout-outs to morning. Dawn? Oh dear, no way!  But in my ripe old age of 32, I might be getting it. I’m willing to keep trying it her way because my way leaves me worn out and worse for the wear.

So here’s to new routines, early mornings and trusting that the Word is truly filled with wisdom if I choose to surrender to its admonition.

I’ll be seeing YOU in the mornings, ok? Deal.