Sleep. Glorious Sleep

I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?  Ernest Hemmingway

So apparently seven to eight hours sleep is what the human body needs to be revived and re energised each night.  Well anyone with a baby can tell you that they rarely get eight hours sleep a night!  I know some parents with five and six year olds who still don't get a full night’s sleep.  For me and for many other mums the sleepless nights begin before the little one has even arrived.  With my back under constant and growing strain and a bladder with no room, night times during pregnancy made for frequent toilet visits and lots of tossing and turning with pillows trying to get comfortable.  However, it all seemed to be good prep for when baby finally arrived as I was quite used to being up three or four times a night!

This morning I woke up after eight hours sleep in a row.  What a luxury...I was so pleased with myself, as if I had achieved something truly great!  But the more I thought about it the more worried I became as I suddenly realised that I now had no excuse left for losing my temper or not doing various dull chores...with eight hours sleep under my belt according to my own standards this was the day that Super Mum should emerge.  As I was sitting in my rocking chair feeding the baby lady I realised that my own heart is very cunning and has allowed me to justify my short temper and laziness under the banner of tiredness. 

Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick”.  I cannot blame all the things I usually blame tiredness for.  I have to blame it on my heart.  My heart which says “don’t worry it’s not your fault you lost your temper you’re just tired” or “You wouldn’t find doing the washing up such a chore if you weren’t so tired” But this day has proven to me that eight hours sleep doesn’t equal Super Mum!  I have found things hard, I have been a tad lazier than I should have been and I have still found myself frustrated at the usual things.  Thankfully however, there is a cure for my sick heart and that is receiving a new one from Jesus.  In Ezekiel 36:26 God makes this promise to us “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” There’s no way I can cure myself!  Even the most effective self-improvement programmes which help me to try harder will fail if the real problem of my sick heart is not addresses.  There’ll always be something else that brings out my selfishness the only option left is a heart transplant and Jesus is my willing donor.

What a cheesy finish!  But it’s so true. Christ wants to give us hearts like his; generous, patient, loving, caring, kind, faithful, obedient hearts that put him in his right place and reveal our sin to us rather than leaving us to fester as we listen to the lies our sick hearts tell us.  So tomorrow morning, eight hours sleep or not I’m gonna wake up and ask God to give me a Christ-like heart so I can face the day, my sin and all its frustrations with a Christ-like attitude.