As spring is seed planting season and the harvest comes much later on, I'm looking for your help in planting some seeds for a future message series. It will be called something like, "Staring At the Ceiling: Hopes and Fears that Lay Heavy in the Heart."
What keeps you staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night (and what provides you relief as well, if you care to answer that)?
You can answer down below, or also head over to the WellSprings Facebook page and answer there. I'm hoping to get many answers, your answers, and to fashion the individual messages in the series based on the trends in, and my resonances with, what you write.
For now, here's a well know poem about worried staring at the ceiling, and also what relieves the author's fears.
This one hits me like a target! I tend to wake in the middle of the night, initially due to discomfort from mild aches and pains, but then I get in motion with both my mind and body. My tendency is to get up and start in on some unfinished work, and I know deep within that this is not the best action for my welfare at this time of night--it stimulates rather than relaxing me. What I think about in my other waking, daytime hours is that this would be an excellent time for reflection and centering prayer (the meditative practice that benefits me so well), maybe even some inspirational reading. I am setting the intention right now to turn to centering prayer tonight when I wake--maybe even put something to remind me of that intention next to where I sleep (like mind-in-a-bottle that Ken illustrated in his message last Sunday). There's no time like right now to do what my heart knows is good for me--and ultimately those around me!!
ReplyDeleteMost people fear losing their sight, but I already am. So what tends to keep me awake at night is the fear that I'll end up burdening those around me. Or that I'll be simply be crushed under the weight of what is happening in my life. I find that when the voices in my head start screaming in the middle of night the best thing to do is not fight them. I let my mind race until is slows, then I breathe and put on some music to try to calm myself. I've learned not to seek sleep in those moments because nightmares await. But to simply listen to what my soul needs and do my best to give it.
ReplyDeleteLike the coward I am, if a life-struggle tries to invade my sleep, I shove it aside or bury it under my pillow by reciting poetry, saying the alphabet backwards or listing the 50 states in alphabetical order. If I get as far as Vermont and Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin and I still haven't gone back to sleep - which is rare - I sing 100 bottles of beer on the wall... I think the technique is called avoidance!
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