S is for Sleep

Sleep, ah.. sleep. I do love sleep. Funny how, when you’re young, you fight it-- and when you get older, you invite it!

Most people follow some sort of routine before settling down to sleep. Sometimes it includes fluffing up a pillow and making sure there are absolutely no wrinkles on the bottom bedsheet. Sometimes it includes making sure there is absolutely no light showing under the closed door. Windows might be opened or closed just so much.  Sometimes it includes reading a bit more of a  good book and sometimes it includes prayer.

I remember as a child reciting a bedtime prayer every night. Sometimes an English one (Now I lay me down to sleep..)  and sometimes a Dutch one (Ik ga slappen, ik ben moeg.. (don’t know if the spelling is right!). Interesting that I can still remember both prayers as clearly as if it were yesterday!  I came across this  poem titled “Sleep” the other day and quite liked. Don’t know if I could memorize it for a bedtime prayer, though!

Sleep

Thou hast promised thy beloved sleep;

Give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow’s toil;

If dreams be mine,

let them not be tinged with evil.

Let thy Spirit make my time of repose

a blessed temple of his holy presence….

I retire this night in full assurance of one day awaking with thee.

All glory for this precious hope,

for the gospel of grace,

for thine unspeakable gift of Jesus,

for the fellowship of the Trinity.

Withhold not thy mercies in the night season;

thy hand never wearies,

thy power needs no repose,

thine eye never sleeps.

Help me when I helpless lie,

when my conscience accuses me of sin,

when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts,

when my eyes are held awake by personal anxieties.

Show thyself to me as the God of all grace,

love and power;

thou hast a balm for every wound,

a solace for all anguish,

a remedy for every pain,

a peace for all disquietude.

Permit me to commit myself to thee awake or asleep.

(Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, Edited by Arthur Bennett p.298-299)