Sleep rounds the edges of our days if we are lucky enough to hold her hand until dawn. 

     Sleep gives us what we so desperately need – a chance to rest from the weight of caregiving. Each night, we seek to be cradled in her precious lap until the morning light wakes us to celebrate the day. 

     Yet, she can elude us. 

     How often have you awakened at 2:00 a.m. and struggled to return to her kind embrace? But, a clatter of worries destroys your peace. Suddenly, you cannot find your path back to her rounded world. 

     Sleep is so important that we take drugs to find her if she does not come voluntarily. 

     E.H. Chapin captured her value: "What a blessing man acknowledges in sleep, whose soft oblivion makes an island of every day, and breaks the hold of continuous care; that cools the hot brain, and bathes the weary eye-lids, and lets the buffeted and foundering heart cast anchor every night in some harbor of happy dreams."

     There is an elegant truth in sleep, an innocence on our faces when she comes to disarm us. In her presence, we abandon our defenses. Is there anything more precious than the look of a child caught in her arms? 

    Sleep is a truth dance. Isadora Duncan wrote "I have something very pure, a totally white thought…I would like to no longer dance to anything but the rhythm of my soul."

     What is the rhythm of your soul? Listen for it tonight when your soul lives as honestly as it can. Sleep knows no pretension. 

   Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Honor sleep and she will enrich your love.

-Erie Chapman

Photograph: "Rest" -Erie Chapman