The Blessing of Sleeplessness

 

I couldn’t sleep.

The tossing and turning kept me stirred up, and it felt near impossible to get comfortable. I have no idea why I woke up, but all I knew was I was wide awake. The kids were sleeping (I think). My wife was sleeping (I think. She may have just got up with one of the kids because they’ve been doing that lately). It wasn’t too hot in my room, nor too cold. My pillow needed to be fluffed, but honestly I think it may be time for a new one. It is really flat and it doesn’t really keep my head elevated. That may be some of my problem, but it wasn’t a concern this morning. So I did the only thing I knew I could do in this situation. I got up.

I immediately grabbed my phone across the room to check the time. It was 3:29. Knowing that my alarm was going to go off in sixteen minutes, I definitely knew it was time to wake up and get started. Now that it is 5:30am, I look back and can say I am glad I did get up. It hasn’t exactly been a five star morning, maybe a four and a half. The only reason its not a five is because I haven’t had breakfast because I do not like to cook while everyone is sleeping. Between the pans clanging as I remove them from their cupboard and the smells of breakfast foods lingering throughout the small house I live in, I don’t want to disturb anyone else slumber just because I am wide awake. The rest of my morning has been fairly ideal, and this is my brief reflection on it.

Time: 4:00am - 4:50am

As soon as I woke up, I changed into my sweatpants and a t-shirt and headed straight to the garage. As soon as I open the door, the first thing I see staring at me is a large metal frame of a Gold’s Gym power rack and smith machine that I use to get my pump on. Today was chest day, and because I was so busy last week, I squeezed in some bicep and tricep exercises that I missed. I wasn’t jacked up to do any heavy lifting and I didn’t take any preworkout because I just didnt want to wait around for it to kick it, so I just went in and got after it. It was a solid work out. My muscles are burning. I can tell my form was better in the lifts due to the lifts being slightly easier this morning (I can’t lift very heavy yet, but that’s part of the deal: to get heavy, you have to start light). I listened to a sermon by John Piper on Future Grace as I lifted and a section of it really stuck out that I will inevitably chew on today about how grace is like a water fall. He describes future grace as a river the flows over the water fall of the present and into a basin of past grace. As this basin fills up, it means you have more grace to be thankful for as your days go on. I found that illustration very useful and it actually worked my mind into peace as I worked my body into shape. It was a shorter work out as I did it like a circuit, so it took about 50 minutes to complete. 

Time: 4:50am - 5:00am

I wasn’t profusely sweating by any means due to the cooler mornings and the lack of insulation in the garage (I am NOT excited about handling ice cold metal first thing in the morning when winter hits its peaks). I was hot nonetheless, so I went and took a cold shower. I haven’t gotten to the mental state where I can handle an ICE COLD shower, but I do like cold showers in the morning. My skin feels better and if I am still kind go groggy from the lack of sleep, this is a turbo boost to my system that shocks me into reality. Almost like a defibrillator but without the trauma and cardiac arrest. I highly suggest anyone that struggles in the mornings to get motivated and awake, even if you’re drinking 80 ounces of coffee, to take a cold shower. I swear by it. 

Time: 5:00am - 5:15am

I had put my pillow in the dryer before I went to work out, but before I could do that I had to remove a load of laundry that was dried the night before. If you’re asking why I put my pillow in the dryer, I thought maybe it would refluff the cotton inside and thicken it up for tonight, so we’ll see how that goes. I could have easily just put the laundry back in the dryer like my natural inclinations would have me do, but instead I left it out and folded it. My wife is almost 8 months pregnant and the last thing she needed to do is another task that I could easily take care of while no one was up. So that’s what I did. One little load of laundry may be the difference in her day, and it took me roughly fifteen minutes to complete, so I am glad I did it. It actually had one complete outfit per kid in there, so I went ahead and laid out their play clothes for the day as well. 

Time: 5:15am - 5:30am

Once the laundry was off the table, I poured my coffee into my Wall-E mug (I have a vast collection of character mugs, specifically Disney, and I am unapologetic about how much I enjoy a great mug). Now that coffee was poured, I grabbed my Bible and turned to Romans 12. My intentions were to look at The beginning of Romans 13 and read over the section on Submission to Authorities, but my eyes were drawn toward a box of ink that was wrapped around the words “Let love be genuine” found in chapter 12. It was the beginning of verse 9 of Romans 12 and I read until verse 13. It is only a small chunk of scripture, but I don’t put a ton of pressure on myself to read for length as much as I do for depth. You can get so wrapped up in completing a reading plan (and reading plans are excellent and I would always advise people to have a plan for reading through the Bible instead of just random selecting passages) that you miss the treasures of scripture that your soul needs. This particular morning was a day where I had intentions of sitting down and meditating on a piece of God’s word, but it ended up being a piece I had not intended. It’s kind of like going to a pizza buffet and thinking you are going to get another slice of Pepperoni, but they just put out a fresh dessert pizza covered in cinnamon and icing as you approached the table. What I went for was savory and comforting, but what I ended up getting was sweet and satisfying. “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve The Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” What great reminders coming to me as I begin my day. If encouragement were blasted out of a semi-automatic texting weapon, this is what it would look like. Amazing how The Lord can use 15 minutes in your schedule to remind you of who you are all the while giving you marching orders as you navigate the mission given in this deployment of life. 

Time: 5:30am - 6:05am

After that, I began writing this. Now I must leave for work and complete a 12 hour shift at a job that I do not enjoy, but I am currently very thankful for. I want to close with this:

There is something to be said about building a routine first thing in the morning to start your day. I have completed more things this morning, and feel much better than I would have if I had stayed in bed until 5:00am. I was able to use the physical abilities that God has given to me in my body to try and get stronger. I was able to serve my wife and family by completing a task that may seem insignificant but has a pretty high ceiling of gratitude coming from my wife. I was able to hear a sermon as well as seek God in His word before the day kicked off in order to try and keep my mind and Spirit sharp as the day goes by in a place I don’t particularly care to be at today. And I was able to crank out this blog post, which may seem small, but when you are trying to hone in on a craft and become better at it - it means the world.

You can do the things you want to do, you just have to stop making excuses and start putting words into action. You can feel better than you feel now, you just have to take necessary steps of trial and error to figure out how that can be possible. You can take control of your life, you just have to be willing to change and adjust to new formats of living. Our time is a resource that we will need get back, so make the most of it that you can while you can. I am on a time crunch now to leave for work, but these words may be more important to someone than me showing up to work 15 minutes early. We cannot go through life just dragging out feet and expecting things to change for us if we are not willing to put the time into making things happen. This morning was a great reminder from God to utilize my time and has shown me the benefits of making things happen. This has been an incredibly great morning so far and it was all stemmed from the inconvenience of being woke up by a biological stirring gifted to me from The Lord. 

Use the inconveniences of life to catapult you into action. Consider all things a blessing, and if you can’t, ask yourself, “How can I use this to become a blessing to me or others around me?”