SLEEPING IN THE MIDDLE

I have a confession to make – well, maybe “confession” is not the right word, but here goes: I am a single woman who does not utilize the full length, width and breadth of her queen-sized bed. There, I said it. I am a right side of the bed only type of girl. The other side is usually covered up with books, my e-Reader, papers, magazines and a plethora of other stuff that I fall asleep with. I come by this foolish habit honestly. My mother also only utilizes one side of the bed. And while I accept this “flaw” in myself – every time I see her sleeping on the edge of the bed, it drives me BONKERS! Many a discussion with her about this habit has started with me exclaiming, “Why are you sleeping on the edge of the bed? One wrong turn in the middle of the night and you are gonna hit the floor!” And she always looks at me, scoots over half an inch and goes right on doing whatever she was doing – including sleeping.

What a waste of the rest of the bed! All that room to wiggle around in. I mean, isn’t that one of the inherent blessings of NOT sharing your bed with another human? (And for all you married people reading this blog – THIS AIN’T ABOUT YOU! Without going too much into my personal past history about sharing a bed, I “get” the joys of sharing a bed – but that ain’t where this blog is headed - So, step off!) My point is: there is a blessing I could be taking advantage of EVERY NIGHT if I would just clear the debris off the other side of the bed, position myself in the middle, and hunker down into a good night’s sleep.

But…I don’t do it because (1) I’m comfortable on the right side of my bed. The mattress is contoured perfectly to my body. The pillows sit just right for snuggling down each night; (2) who has time, before going to bed, to go through all the paperwork that is piled up during the day – it can wait until the morning; and (3) the book I’m reading to put me to sleep needs a place to rest as well – might as well be the left side of the bed. Ok, ok – I get that these are all just excuses, but they work for me.

How often to we make the same excuses when it comes to the blessings that the Lord has in store for us? Sometimes by stepping outside our box (or moving to the other side of the bed), we find that there are more blessings waiting for us. By exploring the possibilities of unknown waters, we might find out things about ourselves, and the people around us, that will help us to grow and achieve the things that we say we want to achieve. Maybe by moving to the middle (or even the other side) of the bed, I can find a different kind of sleeping experience that might just be better. One neva knows until one tries – right? Right.

So, I’m going try sleeping in the middle of the bed for a while – let’s see what wonderful things will unfold from the experience.

Be blessed.

© 2011 Kristina E. Smith
Thursday, February 10, 2011