Antidote for Sleeplessness

So, I’m a light sleeper and a little sleeper and sometimes, a nap-sleeper. Here’s the deal. From young childhood years through today, I’ve been an “early bird” riser. Four to five a.m. is my up and at ’em time. And I’m not exactly early-to-bed at night. Four or five hours of sleep is usual and a little nap in the afternoon tides me over.

I get a kick out of my mother-in-law, who at 99-1/2, still brags about her sleep. She’ll always remind us: “I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and have sound sleep all night long (8 hours plus). That’s not me, but getting enough sleep is essential for all of us.

I started thinking about my friends and maybe you’d like a little extra shut-eye so I’ll give you my antidote to sleeplessness. I use several strategies when I might have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep. If I can’t sleep when I go to bed or in the middle of the night, I turn my thoughts into prayers.

In 2 Corinthians 11:27, the Apostle Paul lists “sleepless nights” as one of the trials he underwent. Maybe by that, he meant worry, restlessness, or insomnia. Then there’s Jesus who was so relaxed that when He and the disciples were on storm-tossed waters, He slept right through the whole turmoil. He even seemed a bit annoyed when those boys woke Him up. Why didn’t they trust that He would look out for them, even while He was asleep?

Instead of tossing and turning, I conjured up ways to get myself to sleep as well as praising the Lord! One of the ways is praying the alphabet with attributes of God. For example: A – amazing, adored, awesome; B – beautiful, beloved, bright morning star; C – Christ, creator, crucified, etc. I’ll also think about songs using the alphabet, like A – Amazing Grace, etc.

I’m trying another prayer strategy that I read from an article written by Norman Vincent Peal. The strategy is to pray the alphabet, but pray it for others. For example, starting with A, pray names of friends and family members, some you know, and some you don’t even know, like: A — Andy, Anna, Allen, Ashley; B – Brenda, Bill, Becky, Brice, etc.

By the way, each of these strategies really works for me because rarely do I get very far into the alphabet before I’ve fallen into a deep, sweet sleep. And at the same time, I like to think my prayers are making a difference in other people’s lives — whether I know what they’re going through or even if I know them, but somehow just maybe God is using my sleeplessness to benefit someone in a crisis and they needed me to call out their name.

Another idea is to pray the alphabet with things we’re grateful for. For example: A – apples, ankles; B – beans, breath, brain.

Proverbs 3:24 “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.”

Of course, you can count sheep at night if you want to, but if you’re wide awake – and I just might be up with you — let’s have little alphabet sessions and even talks with Jesus and I know He’ll give us sweet and restful sleep!