Sleepytime Prayer

        We've all had nights like this: you lay there exhausted but no matter how hard you try, you cannot fall asleep.  It can happen when I first go to bed or if I awaken in the middle of the night, it seems like it is almost impossible to go back to sleep.   Sometimes it is a particular fear or worry that bothers me but more often I just can't turn my mind off; there are so many things to think through, worry about, or try to remember.
        If only worry changed things.  At least it would accomplish something then besides making the next day long and miserable.  If only all that tossing and turning somehow counted as aerobics!  But in the end, they don't change a thing unless it adds up to more gray hairs and deepening the worry lines.  Often at the base of our worries are our fears about things we cannot change or control and the dark and quiet of the night seems to magnify them.
       Once when she was little, summer thunderstorms kept rumbling through the night.  My daughter would be woken up by the thunder and lightning and come into the bedroom and wake me up.  She wanted to sleep in our room.  I would say no and put her to bed in her room but when a new round of storms would come through, she would wake up and come in again.
       After several times of trying to get her sleep in her own bed, I gave up.  I was too tired to keep it up, so I let her crawl into bed with me.  "It's better here", she said as she snuggled in with her big stuffed rabbit.
        When I asked why, she answered that the thunder wasn't as loud in our bed.  With that, she fell fast asleep.   And so did I!  Thunder is softer when it is shared.
       One of the motifs that runs through the book of Luke is the phrase, "Do not be afraid".   God understands that like children in a storm, we need to be reassured more than once that we are not alone and that God is with us.
       We live in worrying times and we share worries about the economic storms that have ensnared us all.  People who worried about having enough for tomorrow now worry about having enough for today and it feels as if we have no say in the matter and no control over the situation.  There is more than enough worry to go around.  But Jesus challenges us.  "And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?"  (Luke 12:25)  He tells us that God values us so much that God even knows the hairs on our head.  God cares for us, for you.
       What is required of us is to put our trust in God.  When we put our hearts and thoughts into God's care, we find that the world's thunder quiets down and we will find rest in God.  That is what God wants for us more than anything.  We do not have to convince God that we deserve salvation, it is God's own gift of love through Jesus the savior.   When worries keep you awake in the middle of the night, pray.  With the regular use and practice of prayer, your mind will relax and follow your heart to God.  Trust in the promise.  Read Luke 12:32-34.