I love sleeping. I love being cozy and cuddled up in my blanket, and I have the arrangement of my 5 pillows down to a science for ultimate comfort. I say all this in truth, but I don't actually spend a lot of time sleeping. At least, compared to how much I could tell you I enjoy it. I stay up late, and I wake up early most days. But here's the point where many people call me crazy: While I love sleeping, I almost hate going to sleep. It takes me a long time to fall asleep most nights, and so while I'm preparing to go to bed, I dread the time I will spend lying in my bed and not sleeping, missing out on wonderful, beautiful sleep. But once I'm asleep, I have no complaints. And I wake up the next morning thankful that I took that hour to lie in my bed and wait to get some rest.
Now, you're probably wondering why I just wrote you a long paragraph about my sleeping habits and love/hate relationship I have with sleep. And you're probably wondering why you even spent your precious time reading that. But I have a point to this. Trust me.
If I were to put what I just wrote to you about sleeping into a different perspective, like reading my Bible and spending time with God, I could still say similar things. I love reading my Bible and spending time with God. I find so much comfort in being near to Him, and he knows just the words to use and challenges to give me to make me the ultimate best I can be for Him. He's constantly pushing me out of my comfort zone, but somehow always comforting me in the process. But for how much I say I love reading the Bible, how much am I actually doing it?
I often find it difficult to stop what I'm doing and pick up my Bible and spend time with my God. I know it's good for me, and I know that I love it, but I still get that tiny speck of dread to actually begin the process. But the times that I do pick up my Bible and spend some time with Him are not wasted moments. After I read, I find myself in constant thankfulness that I have a Bible to read and that He gives me constant guidance while reading it. And in the constantly moving life I live, I always feel rested after reading my Bible, and that's one area where the Bible never fails me, but sleep does.
I've been challenged constantly to live my life more productively and really seek God and His direction for me. I've been spending more time in the Word than I ever have before, and it's been incredible, and very refining. It's not exactly exciting to open my Bible with the knowledge that there's a high chance of Him revealing more dirt to me about myself. But once it's out, I know I need to change, and he cleanses me of that dirt and sin and I feel refreshed and ready to take on another day and another challenge. He gives me the energy that I need.
I may have to wait for what seems an eternity, but I always come out rested and ready to go. And the time I spent with Him is always more than worth it!
