The sleep of the beloved | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The sleep of the beloved | Previous Challenge Entry
By Suzanne R
02/10/10
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You struggle with the key. Slump in the doorway. Pull out the laptop out from your briefcase. Hugging the computer to your chest, you drop the bulging briefcase by the door with a heavy thud. You stagger through to the bedroom. The laptop will come to bed with you. It even occasionally goes to the bathroom with you.

Exhausted. Fatigued. You ache all over. Legs are tired. Eyes are tired. Brain is tired. Heart is empty.

It’s just another day.

You get up early. You do your research. You meet clients, colleagues, superiors, competitors and market researchers. You travel from city to city, office to office, and from business lunch to discussions over coffee to business drinks. Striving. Straining. The weight of the world is on your shoulders. It all depends on you.

Life is frenetic.

This morning you gasped for air in that mad dash for the plane. Last on board, you flopped into the seat, mopped your face, then lapsed into an exhausted stupor staring at the pages of figures in your hands, half of which you utilized as a fan. Having landed, you rolled deodorant under your arms as you jostled through to the baggage carousel. Composing a polite face like pulling up a pair of socks, forcing a slight smile, not overly casual yet friendly, approachable and trustworthy, you met another very important person.

You mean well. It’s for the family. It’s for the future. It’s for you.

You. It’s all about you. You deserve it.

You.

Over-tired but too highly strung to sleep, like a guitar string screechingly high pitched and ready to ping apart, you flip open the Bible. Although you call yourself a Christian, life is too busy for onerous commitments at church. Let those with the luxury of time indulge in religious rites.

Yet tonight, your mind like an agitated mosquito which buzzes incessantly, you flip open your Bible and read….

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat – for he grants sleep to those he loves.” (Psalm 127: 1-2 NIV)

Sleep? Oh, what would you give to indulge in that God-given sleep as His beloved child. A child, without responsibilities too great to bear, and with a loving parent nearby ready to do what is beyond you. But that's not you. You're all grown up. You’re too busy.

Busy? Check that Scripture again.

Unless God is behind the project, it is all in vain. All the effort, the stress, the missed moments with loved ones, life consumed by career – it is all meaningless.

Life isn’t about rushing, panicking, strategizing, planning, achieving, or even leaving a legacy.

Coming back to God’s Word amongst the overheating never-pausing treadmill of life restores perspective.

Stop.
Breathe.
Sleep, beloved.

It is NOT about you.

The LORD, the Creator and Sustainer, grants sleep to those He loves.

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