Sleep
October 20, 2023
As a child, I fought my parents about going to bed. I wanted to stay up for more TV or more play and could not understand why I was made to go to sleep. I was mad at my parents because sleep was like dying for me. During sleep, I had no life and no excitement. I didn't even remember what happened in those eight to ten hours. Going down the hallway to my bedroom was like going down the hall to the gas chamber where I would die.
Now I crave sleep. It is so refreshing and peaceful. And it has the added benefit of dreams that help direct my life and awareness. In maturity, we finally understand what we didn't realize the beauty of in childhood and bedtime is one of them.
I have noticed many gravestones have the letters RIP on them. This is short for the Latin phrase "Requiescat in Pace" which means "Rest in Peace." These words were placed on Christian grave markers as early as the Eighth Century CE.
Christian theology holds that after we die, we are with God (2 Corinthians:5-8). Therefore, it is a mystery to me how death was defined as sleep. We are very active when we are with God, not sleeping our spiritual lives away. I say this because of the people I know who have had Near Death Experiences. They invariably return to say their experience of heaven was an all-accepting place where souls were happy and productive. It was so pleasant that most accounts reported that the person did not want to return to this life (Life After Life, Raymond Moody, Jr.)
It makes my soul child happy to think that heaven is a happening place, not a place of sleeping spirits.
Inquiry: How do you view sleep?
Dear God,
As I go to sleep tonight, I pray to be with you and with you all day. That is no dull state of being. Amen.
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