Ever so often do I hear people telling me how they lay awake through the previous night. They make it sound like the end of the world. “You lay awake all night?” I ask laughing. “Yes,” they say, “yes, don’t laugh Bob!” “And did the troubles of the day appear, all the bigger at night?”
“Yes!” they say, “and that made even the last bit of sleep disappear!” I was once like that. I thought it was the most terrible thing to lie awake, as the days problems became huge and monstrous while lying awake. I tossed and turned, woke my poor wife, walked the house and most probably woke everyone else. My doctor wife would get up patiently and give me a sleeping pill which started acting, I always felt, when dawn was breaking and it was time to rise. I still go through bouts of sleeplessness, but have started enjoying these moments. I look out of the window and see the silhouettes of my trees, all close friends of mine swaying gently and nodding at me, or during the monsoons swaying vigorously and enjoying the wind and breeze. I hear the gentle tinkle of the wind chimes placed just outside and I think of a great big God above who like a father with a smile on His face is lulling His children to sleep. He looks at my wide awake eyes and gently pats my head. I talk to Him and He replies in tones slow and peaceful. I have all the time in the world to be with Him, because the others are asleep and He is mine alone and I am His. Slowly like little child I fall asleep. It hardly bothers me now if I fail to fall asleep because it also means I can have my special little conversations with my God above!
There are many of us who don’t fall asleep because we don’t know when the day closes and night begins. We plough through the evening hours and instead of slowing down our activities pack in a double dose of active time. Those who live in the countryside know that people instinctively fall into a quiet and peaceful mood at dusk. Voices are lower, and the quietness that settles over the earth influences the movements of people. Thus, following the rhythm of the day, people calm down in the evening. Their tempo becomes slow and relaxed, their bodies and minds are at ease, and when they go to bed they find it easy to sleep. What nature instructs us to do is to calm down through the evening. Spend your evening hours to unburden your mind, then put your cares in the hands of God, and you will sleep like a baby as soon you put your head down…!
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