Sleep Tight

Naturally, I'm much more of an owl than a lark.

I could happily stay awake until the wee hours of the morning, working and socialising, and then sleep in until around 10. But sadly the real world doesn't work like that and, as I am back to work next week, I have been trying to adjust my body clock from my indulgent owl-like holiday sleep patterns.

However, I have so far been unsuccessful. It usually takes me around 45 minutes (no exaggeration) of snoozing to actually come round from the comatose state in which I find myself first thing in the morning.

To try and reduce this, I thought I would set a radio alarm this morning, rather than just the usual alarm, to see if this might provide a more gentle and gradual arousal to consciousness.

However, I seemed so anxious that I would in fact sleep straight through this alarm that I kept waking up every hour wondering what time it was and if I should have been awake already. Coupled with the start of back-to-work dream scenarios, I can't say I felt especially refreshed this morning.

There's little in life as deeply dissatisfying as a bad night's sleep: sometimes I almost wish I hadn't bothered going to bed, I feel so unrested by the morning.

However, the Bible reassures us that we can enjoy restful and peaceful sleep when God is on our side:

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

[Psalm 4:8 NIV]

And in a different translation this verse reads,

"At day's end I'm ready for sound sleep, For you, God, have put my life back together."

[Psalm 4:8 MSG]

I can lie down and rest in peace because God is for me and is working to restore me.

Now that's what I call sleeping tightly.