Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. I woke up at 3:00 a.m.with no hope of going back to sleep and it seemed like forever before the sun showed itself in the morning sky. By the time the Master woke up the world I’d already spent hours in His presence and my soul overflowed. I’d already approached His Throne with all of my praise and my requests and I’d already absorbed His Words… so, I just sat in silence and watched the “lights” come on all around me. Today isn’t a good day to be running on little sleep but God had reason for me to lose some slumber in exchange for time with Him instead, and since He calls-the-shots in my Life; whatever sleep I get will always be enough. Isn’t that the way it is for you too?

It could be so easy to put more importance on rest than it is on Living, but it’s not supposed to be that way at all. Yes, the body needs rest and it needs to restore and if we deny it what it needs; there’s always a big price to pay. But some people can’t seem to wait until the end of the day for the next round of sleep and they rush-the-clock until it’s bedtime. Some people hit-the-sack not long after supper and some people sleep 1/2 of a 24 hour day away….day after day. Some people get their 8 hours in and then insist on an afternoon nap where they hope to find the strength to endure the rest of the day. I’v never figured out why some people are more focused on sleep than they are on living. It could be they aren’t healthy or it could be they want to escape. It could be a bad habit or it could be they’re bored with life. Whatever the reason for their obsession with sleep; there’s a whole lot of living being lost in the slumber, and one day they’ll be shocked when they realize that they’re out of time and they traded Living for sleep.

The older I get the more focused I am on living my life to the fullest. I’m more inclined to look at a sleepless night as time to do something meaningful than I am to toss and turn and fight for more sleep. The older I get the more I realize that the days that have been allotted to me are getting shorter and shorter and there is less and less time to do what I’ve been wanting to do. The older I get the more aware I am of the hours that I squander and the more driven I am to stop wasting time. The older I get the more eager I am to fulfill my Purpose in this life so that I don’t die having wasted a life. The older I get the more inclined I am to want to leave this world a better place than it was before I showed up. The older I get the harder I fight for peace and the easier it is to find my joy. The older I get the more I realize that I need to force myself to keep dreaming and to keep hoping because the Bible says without these things people perish. The older I get the more I want to savor and the more I cherish time with the people I love. The older I get the more precious my time is and trading sleep for Living is well worth the price to me.

I’m running on a little less sleep today but I’ll keep living my life to the fullest no matter what. I’m grateful to have another healthy day to live my life and work toward fulfilling my Purpose and I won’t be squandering even one minute of it. How about you? Are you so focused on getting your rest that you’ve stopped living your Life and have you forgotten that you can’t fulfill your Purpose in your sleep? IF so, reach out to me. I’ll sit you down and explain how short your life really is and I’m happy to show you what God expects you to do with your time while you’re still here, and when I’m done with you; sleep will take on an entirely different meaning and you’ll be trading sleep for Living just like I do!