Resolution

A couple weeks ago we enjoyed a visit with Deacon Daniel, a jolly Franciscan.  As we sat around with coffee, he asked if we had made any resolutions.  I hadn't given it any thought.

He got me thinking.  After all, resolutions are kind of fun to make, even if they do get broken.  So now I have one.  My resolution for 2013 is to look at a day from a different perspective.  Lately I've been looking at a day as going from 6am to midnight.  Not anymore.

Everyone would benefit from learning more about the importance of sleep. 

Of course, there are times when it may be of spiritual benefit to temporarily lack sleep such is practised at St. Patrick's Purgatory.  Any mother knows that love sometimes demands that sleep be temporarily disrupted.  However, most often I sacrifice sleep for the sheer pleasure of silently doing whatever I choose. 

I resolve to believe that 10 pm is late, very late, and time for bed.  If 10 is late for me, it is way too late for children.  8:30 is late enough for them.  Because 10 pm is late, and the kids need to be in bed by 8:30, supper must be earlier. No more late night suppers.

Of course, bad habits don't die so easily.  It's the mindset I am changing with the hopes my actions will follow.  I resolve to believe that God designed us with a need for sleep...the purposes of sleep known fully only by Him.  I surrender my belief that sleep deprivation is a virtue (not that I ever confessed that belief, but hey, actions speak louder than words).

Now, knowing that I won't always succeed in surrendering the day at 10 pm, I have a back-up plan.  Years ago a mother told me that she knew she required 8 hours of sleep to be her best self.  She had a newborn and was unable to get 8 hours sleep in a row.  So, she resolved to stay in her pyjamas and sleep every opportunity she could get until she logged in 8 hours...even if it took until 2pm or whatever.  She did not accomplish much in a day, and it was humiliating if someone came to the door in the middle of the day and she was still in pyjamas. 

That's my resolution:  Plenty of proper sleep. 

With this change of perspective, the day is now much smaller than it was, and my dream bubble of all the things I might accomplish is burst.  The day is short...will I spend it in a fury to accomplish all the things I am "supposed" to?  Or will I focus on being more present to the people, big and little, around me?  Hmmm, there's another resolution!