Recently, I met a very dear friend for breakfast.  She asked about Josiah.  When I mentioned he had been sleeping better, she was thrilled. We have been praying for him to sleep well, she said. Well, it’s working, I mentioned.  In fact, if I remember right, I may have even told her it was no longer necessary to pray for Josiah to sleep. At that time, he had been sleeping almost too much, if that is even possible.

Josiah had been taking 4 and 5 hour naps at school for a few days in a row, after full nights of sleep at home. On his last full day of school, when the class had a water day, Josiah crawled in the arms of 3 different teachers and fell asleep while with each of them.The other kids were splashing in a pool, playing with water balloons and bubbles, eating snow cones and popcorn, and even jumping in an inflatable house.  All the while, Josiah slept.

Often, on the days when he would sleep at school, he’d come home and shortly after his snack, fall asleep on the floor.  Then, he would go to bed early at night and have a difficult time waking in the morning. This was completely out of character for our never-need-sleep, I can function on a full 40 minutes kind of kid.  Josiah has NEVER required much sleep, unless of course he is sick.

We knew he wasn’t sick.  There were no signs of illness, but we were so concerned about him sleeping so much we took him to his pediatrician for blood work. Rick and I were quite surprised when all the results came back normal.  His blood work showed everything within normal limits and no abnormalities anywhere. That was good news, so we simply enjoyed those couple of weeks when he was sleeping well.

This week, Josiah is back to his sleepless self.  One night he was up til 1:35 am and the next night he was awake til 4:30 am.  The third night, after just 6 hours of rest and a full day of fun in the sun, he was up til after 1 am again.

This morning as I was doing my Bible study, I came across this passage in Psalm 127:2  It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows:  For so He gives His beloved sleep. The summary note says:  This verse does not endorse idleness.  It means that apart from God, even hard work will not prove finally satisfying.  Sleep is a gift from God.

We noticed those couple of weeks when Josiah was well rested, he was a much happier kid.  He was smiling all the time and so very pleasant. Aren’t we all?  Don’t we all treat others better and feel great when we are well rested?

I want to find a happy medium.  I would love it if Josiah would feel tired around 9 at night and sleep til 7 am each morning.  That’s just 10 hours of sleep, which is what is recommended for kids his age anyway. It sure would make for a happier, more rested Mom, that’s for sure.

So dear friends, if you are a praying person, may I humbly request your prayers.  Please pray for Josiah to sleep well. And I promise, once he does, I will not ever again say it is no longer necessary.

I’ve learned my lesson.  Keep the prayers coming.

         THIS is the goal, a sleeping Josiah.