The Gift of Sleep

I have been reminded lately of how good is every little gift from God - even the ones for which we often forget to thank Him.

Someone once said, "Money can buy a bed, but it can't buy sleep." As I've been wrestling for the last week with not being able to fall asleep and waking at odd times for an hour or more at a time, I realized that I took sleep as a personal right, as something that I should just expect. Perhaps, I'll give a cursory prayer on the pretense of asking for a good night's rest, but it was just a pretense because I never really considered that sleep might not be mine upon command.

Sure, I've had rough nights before, but a whole string of them is frustrating. I started getting more tense at night, feeling more desperate to sleep, watching the hours slip by - precious few allotted to me for the purpose of sleeping. I would get my chance to rest each night, but morning brought the dread of the alarm as I rose more frustrated and tired than when I had laid down.

Finally, I slept through the night last night.

You can bet I thanked God.

Maybe I'll get to thanking Him for more things. But I hope now I'll start before He sees the need to remind me of a blessing through removing it for a time.