So sleepy....

I went to the LDS temple in Oakland this morning. I got up at 5, left the house at 6 and began the service at 7. All A.M. And I was SO VERY SLEEPY! I struggled to stay alert. Well, I struggled to stay awake, anyway--I think alert may have been beyond possible this morning.

So I was thinking what I could do differently in order to be less sleepy and I thought: it's more than just going to bed early on Tuesday nights (we go every Wednesday morning), because if I stay up late over the weekend and maybe on Monday night too, I'm going to still feel bad on Wednesday morning no matter WHEN I go to bed on Tuesday. Can't make up for that much missed sleep in just one night.

There was a time when I could skip sleep and still be alert. But those days are past. So sad.

So the conclusion I came to was that in order to be alert and attentive in the temple, to get the most out of the worship there, I need to be going to bed and getting up reasonably early EVERY DAY. Like, in bed by 10:30 and up by 6:30 pretty much every day just so I can be rested enough to be awake earlier on Wednedays. And also so my body is USED to being awake and doing at 7am.

(Oh. And exercise. But let's not go there today.)

So. Kind of a tall order for me. At least once a week I find myself staying up til the wee hours reading a book. And then I need to sleep in until 8 or so to catch up on that lost sleep, you know. And then the next night inevitably is still late, although not wee hours. And that means I'm still so tired that getting up before 7:30 is out of the question. And so it goes on.....(and my kids reinforce this too, cuz they like it when I'm slow to be out at the table, all ready for school. The slower I am, the more free time they have in the morning! Nasty little children. :D)

But still. Gotta get my early to bed and early to rise habits in place. Consistent care of my body will lead to long term good benefits. I think this is pretty obvious.

And then I thought: (keep in mind that this was quite early this morning and I've already been sleep deprived for quite some time) This is like a METAPHOR for life! For the gospel and the happiness to be found therein!

If I don't read/study my scriptures every day and pray night and morning (etc etc) with no or few failures, then I can't be prepared to receive all the blessings that are just waiting to be released to me, conditional on my obedience and worthiness, right? I DO believe that the Lord blesses unworthy people (otherwise almost no one would ever get any blessings). But if I were consistent on getting the spiritual "sleep" (gotta follow the metaphor), then I would always be spriritually "awake"!

!!!!!!

That's my metaphor for the day, courtesy of several nights of insufficient sleep, a nice morning at the temple, and a bit of free time this afternoon! :D