While you are sleeping

"I will lie down in peace and sleep"

Psalm 4:8

There's a new family that's been coming to our church the past few months.   They moved from Texas to Southern California around the beginning of the year ~ all 7 of them.  Dad, Mom, and 5 kids.

I actually haven't met any of them yet.  The Apple of my Eye introduced himself to the dad, and my Amazing Boy goes to Youth Group with one of the daughters, but to be honest, I don't even know what the mom looks like.  I'm sure I'll meet her soon, at some ladies function or something, but so far, no....

But though I haven't met them, I've been praying for them, because shortly after they moved here, their oldest was admitted to the hospital with an intestinal problem.  I think all told, she was there for a few weeks.  It took the doctors several days to diagnose the problem, and deal with her symptoms while they did so.

Although they'd moved to California to be near family ~ so they weren't alone ~ it has to be so hard to be dealing with a medical crisis right after moving.  Unpacking boxes, learning your way around town, and having four other kids at home who need you while you're trying to spend as much time as possible at the hospital.

Towards the end of the crisis, shortly before she came home, when I was getting a prayer update, I overheard that father say that while he was glad they had a diagnosis, it had been so difficult to see his little girl in such pain.  He said that at one point, the pain was so bad, she was whimpering and crying out in her sleep.

Oh, that just about broke my heart.  Can you imagine crying in your sleep?  I mean, it just really speaks to the intensity of the pain, that she didn't even have relief while sleeping.

It got me to thinking about the things we do unconsciously, or rather, subconsciously.  The things we do without thinking, or without knowing we are doing them.  It might be a nervous habit ~ nail biting or hair twirling, for instance.  It might be words in our vocabulary ~ "y'know" or "like" being said several times a sentence, perhaps.

Or it might be actions.  Those, I think, have the potential to be the most dangerous.  Any time you do something without thinking, well, that's thoughtless, right?  Literally "without thought".  Which might mean that maybe it's something you should have thought about first.

It speaks to our character, I think, who we are and what we do when we're on "autopilot".  Do you open doors for people all the time, or only when you're trying to impress someone?  Are you polite to clerks and baggers at the market, or just to your pastor?

And what about your relationship with the Lord?  How differently do you pray, when you're praying out loud, than you do when you're in private?  Do you read the Bible for you?  To grow in your knowledge of Him?  Or do you do it so that you can check it off your list, or say you read the whole thing in a year?

God knows when we're faking; when we're misrepresenting who we really are.  He sees our hearts, and He can't be fooled. 

But you know what?  That person you are unconsciously, subconsciously, in your sleep... He loves you so much.  But He wants you to be your best, kindest, lovingest, forgivingest you, all the time.  Which, let's be honest, we can't do without thinking about it.  We can't do it without trying... and we can't do it without His help.

~ "Be ye perfect,

even as your Father in heaven is perfect" ~

Matthew 5:48

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