dreams

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Why Your Sleep May Be Interrupted

Since the new year I have not slept that well, and now I know why.

why your sleep may be interrupted

You would think that with a new year everything restarts, that at midnight on January 1 we hit the reset button … unless you stayed up into the new year and, in that case, the reset happened when your head hit the pillow.

And that is the very culprit of my poor start to 2021 – my pillow.

Pillows are an important part of your sleep technology, according to Sleep Country. But since they are in the business of selling you mattresses and pillows, maybe we should take that idea with a grain of salt.

Yet my pillow is driving me nuts. 

When it’s on the bed, before I climb in, it looks so good, fluffy, lying there inviting me to lay my head down on it. 

But as soon as my head presses into the pillow, it collapses into nothing. 

It’s like in the old cartoons when they were trying to catch a lion. They would dig a hole and then cover it to look like it was just the jungle floor. 

The unsuspecting lion would come along in all his glory and walk confidently over the spot. The covering would collapse and he would fall into the pit. 

When I put my head on my pillow, it’s like my head falls ten stories to the mattress below. At least it is a mattress down there and not a cement floor.

So I’ve been crunching up my pillow to give it some substance. Then, of course, as soon as I move, that soft bolder I’ve created loses its shape and bang, down to the mattress my head falls again. 

As a result, my neck has been a little sore during the night. It’s also causing problems with cutting off circulation to my arms. 

It can be frightening to be half asleep and realize you can’t feel your left arm. And when you fling that half dead arm from under your chest you have to lie still to wait until all those pins and needles leave your appendage before you can move again to a more comfortable position. 

That’s why my condition is serious and it is also causing me to dream more. 

At the beginning of a new year it is good to dream, to dream of what you want to accomplish in the new year, dream about projects you want to start, or things you want to stop. 

But the dreams I’ve been having are disjointed, wild and they don’t make sense. They do nothing but make me restless and cause me to wake up feeling unrested after my night’s sleep.

I’m only a couple of days into the new year and already I’m wondering when this year will be over … and I’m not even thinking about all the COVID issues that are still ahead of us. 

So I’ve made a plan, and I’ve already executed it. This morning I stole a pillow from our spare bedroom. 

We will see if I sleep better tonight. 

Here’s the thing: In the beginning of a new year, we can feel restless for a number of reasons. One way to deal with that restlessness is to take time to seek God and come up with some goals for the year ahead. Consider what God might want to start or stop. You might find you sleep better too. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How can you start the new year off right? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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What Dreams Are Made Of

I think I know what dreams are made of. 

There are many people who try to tell us what dreams are made of, but they just want to sell us something. There are countless companies who have exploited dreams to get people to spend money. 

Vacation destinations and travel agents are masters at promoting pictures and videos of beaches and sunsets, food and accommodations that draw you into the dream of being right there. 

And many people find their dream there. 

Then there’s the jewelry industry. They probably exploit the idea of a dream more than any other industry. 

They sell the dream of a relationship.

They show their products being given and worn, and do it in such a magical way. Then men try to recreate the dream as they reveal a diamond ring or a necklace to the one they love, or hope to marry. Women see the whole dream, beginning to end, as they first gaze at that piece of glassy stone. 

A lot of money has been made on dreams. 

But there are other dreams that don’t get us to spend money. They just scare us, or frustrate us or give us a warm feeling. Those are the dreams we have just before we wake up. 

Some say that they are made up of what we experienced the night before. If we saw a scary movie, we might dream about something that is frightening. If we’re in the middle of something that’s not finished, our dream may be about something frustrating, like not being able to catch someone. 

I don’t know about you, but I very rarely remember my dreams. By the time I wake up, I’ve forgotten what it was that was going through my mind. I’m only left with the feeling of frustration. 

My wife, Lily, however, often has dreams and they really bother her when she wakes up. She doesn’t like to talk about them because when she does that, it just sets them more in her mind. 

She usually blames me for watching something on TV the night before that put the stimulus in her head that freaked her out in the morning. But I’ve proved that to be wrong. 

The last time she had a scary dream, she had watched some romantic movie the night before that she had wanted to see. I took absolutely no responsibility for the movie choice or the dream that followed in the morning. 

But I know what dreams are really made of: dreams are a combination of thought and emotion. 

When you combine a thought with a strong emotion, you get a dream. That dream could be the kind that wakes you up, or the kind you have when you are awake that drives you to spend money, or give your life to.  

A dream starts with a thought, and as you ponder that thought, feelings become attached to it and become a passion. 

The result is a dream that will not leave you, but move you to pursue it. 

Here’s the thing: God places thoughts in our minds. The tiniest thoughts may be easy to dismiss, for fear that if we ponder them, they may stay with us. But if you will give that thought some time to get attached to emotion, it will develop into something you may want to pursue. It is true for those God is drawing into His family and for those God wants to serve Him in some capacity. So don’t dismiss that thought; ponder it. It may be that God is giving you a dream of the future. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What thought do you need to ponder a little more? Leave your comments below.

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From Plans To Reality

Some people are big planners; others are not. I don’t happen to be a natural planner. I HAVE to plan and so I do it, but it’s work for me. It takes considerable effort on my part.

In a perfect world, I would wake up every morning and say, “It’s a brand new day!” You have to say it out loud though, and with a Jamaican accent. And one more thing, you really have to roll out the “br” sound. Try it with me: “It’s a brrrrrand new day!” (Don’t forget the Jamaican accent.) … I know you feel better just saying it.

70's duds.001

That’s how I would love to approach each morning: every day a blank page, and me eagerly awaiting what will happen. The only problem with that is I have responsibilities and I have wants and dreams cluttering that wishful blank page.

This morning in my devotions I read Proverbs 16:9 which says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

That means all that I’ve done in my life so far is really the Lord’s doing. My plans, my dreams and my wants – all the things I’ve gone after – have only come to be because God established them.

That also means the custom platform shoes and knee-length coat with an 8 inch fur collar I bought in the 70‘s was because God established it for me (maybe not, but I really wish I could find a picture of that get up). It means that my plans and dreams that haven’t materialized or worked out are because God didn’t establish them.

I could be sad or angry that I haven’t gotten all I wanted, hoped or planned for, or I could take comfort that I did get what God wanted, planned and dreamed for me so far.

Going on from here, I could stop planning and dreaming, sit back and start each day with “It’s a brand new day” and see what happens, or I could try to figure out what God has planned for me and follow that.

But how can I know God’s plans in advance? And how detailed are God’s plans? Are His plans as detailed as what I will have for breakfast, or whether I should buy a new Apple product – it doesn’t matter what, anything will do. (I’d sure like Him to establish that plan!)

Maybe we can’t live that way. Instead, we have to keep making plans, keep dreaming and hoping but roll with what actually is established. I wonder if most of our frustration is just being upset that God changed our plans on us.

We would be happier if we were prepared for changes to our plans and pleasantly surprised by what He establishes.

Here’s the thing: To live a content life we need to be happy with what God brings our way. We need to be okay when He changes our plans. But we still need to keep planning, dreaming, hoping and wanting. If we stopped, we would probably be dead.

Thanks, Lord for ordering my steps. It’s just what you wanted, so it’s just what I want too.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How important are the plans you make for yourself?  Leave your comment below.