In The Midnight Hours

I like to sleep- I just have no gift for it, it seems. Some people have no musical ability and some have no mechanical acumen: my Achilles Heel is sleeping. The following is from August 9, 2007.

I've never been a good sleeper. It's rare when I make it through three or hours at night without waking up. Usually, I can just roll over and go back to sleep but not last night. Maybe my restlessness was exacerbated by my parents' health issues or the impending start of school but my sleep pattern was not smooth. Twice, I got up for a little while to try to tire again. The first time, I spent ten minutes on the computer before attempting to re-enter the sleep zone. The second go-around, perhaps two hours later, I switched on the television and watched until the next commercial. Once more, I fell back into bed and slept until 5:15. I'm trying to get back into my school routine in terms of closing it down for the night and rolling out from between the sheets. It is going to be a struggle.I just finished the book of Esther in my One Year Bible readings. The whole story turns on the first verse of Chapter 6:
"That night, the king could not sleep."
Xerxes, the sovereign of Persia, had some documents read to him as he dealt with his insomnia. To condense the story, what he learned in that time when he was struggling to sleep led to the Jewish people being saved from annihilation at the hands of an evil official named Haman. If Mr. Sandman had visited Xerxes that night, the Israelites might have been wiped out. 

Do you think God had anything to do with Xerxes not being able to sleep? Although it is never stated, you have to believe it was due to intervention from the Lord. I wonder if that still happens. When I sat down to my computer the first time I woke up, I found an e-mail from my good friend, Bin. I think it is Bin's goal to get my book to sell in China so he passed along the name/e-mail address of one of his friends who is interested in my writing. When I got up to watch television, I found a re-run of The Andy Griffith Show. It was one of the very good ones, where Andy doesn't bail Opie out of trouble when he breaks a neighbor's window with a baseball. It was a terrific lesson on accountability. Maybe the Lord wanted me to read that e-mail or watch that television segment so he nudged me in my sleep. Xerxes no-slumber night changed history, or maybe it kept it from being changed. Who knows if mine will end up with a similar outcome. I'm going to sleep on it!

Applicable quote of the day:
"There are twelve hours in the day, and above fifty in the night."
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com