Too Thankful to Sleep

I proved a song wrong recently.

It was just after 2:30 in the morning, and my phone rang. It was a wrong number, but it woke me up and jarred me enough that I struggled to fall back asleep. My mind was racing.

After a little while, my mind thought of some lyrics from the classic movie “White Christmas:”

When I get worried and I can’t sleep,

I count my blessings instead of sheep.

Then I fall asleep counting my blessings.

It was the middle of the night, so I figured I’d give it a try. I started to think of blessings, reminding myself that “every good and every perfect gift” is from God (James 1:17).

I thought of my precious wife and what a blessing she is to me, and how much she does for our family and our congregation that goes unnoticed by everyone but God Himself.

I thought of my kids, and what an awesome responsibility it is to raise them, but also how blessed I am to have that precious girl and soft-hearted boy in my life.

I thought of the rest of my family. No one deserves to be blessed with parents, siblings, in-laws, and more like I am.

I thought of some physical blessings like the house we live in. It may cost us a lot to keep up and update, but it keeps us cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and the number of laughs that have been shared in that place are already innumerable.

And on…

and on…

and on…

and on…

it went.

Finally, about 4:30 in the morning, I decided that I would stop trying to fall asleep by counting my blessings and try reading a book instead. (It worked…after 45 minutes…by the way.)

When I woke up at 6:00 (my usual time), I reflected back on what had been a weird night, and one that might take a day or two to catch up from.

More than that, though, my mind was filled with more gratitude for all that God has done for me. My salvation is because of Him. My hope is because of Him. My very life is because of Him.

It’s hard to sleep when you have that much to be grateful for!

(So, if you’ll forgive me, I might just count sheep tonight.)

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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn