Sleep an essential rhythm of life for all of us
It was a busy weekend. Saturday I took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island to spend the day with friends and Sunday Tom and I drove out to Camano Island after church to see his son West and then drove up to Bellingham to speak at a church. We arrived home after 9pm. Not late, but as our dog Bonnie had kept us up most of the previous night, we were really flagging and dragging by the time we got into bed. And yesterday I was not much better. As you can imagine, my head felt as though it was stuffed with cotton wool. Everything I did took twice the time I intended and I felt as though my brain had ceased functioning.
The reason I am writing this article today is not because I want your sympathy, but because for many of us sleeplessness is more a function of our lifestyle than anything else. And the problem is getting worse. A couple of days ago I read this interesting article Reading On A Screen Before Going to Bed May be Killing You.
You’ve heard that using screens before bedtime can mess with your sleep, but new research suggests the problem is even more serious.
Reading from an iPad before bed not only makes it harder to fall asleep, but also impacts how sleepy and alert you are the next day, according to new research fromBrigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, said the findings could impact anyone who uses an eReader, laptop, smartphone, or certain TVs before bed. Read the entire article
This was not good news for me because I love to read before I go to bed and reading on my tablet means I don’t disturb my husband.
Sleep is one of the essential rhythms of life. Many of us hate the 8 hours we need to spend in bed each day but without adequate sleep we soon cease to function properly, without any sleep, a condition that is fortunately fairly rare, we will soon die. There is even evidence that taking a siesta in the afternoon boosts our memory and cognitive functioning. There are many causes for sleeplessness from anxiety and depression to serious physical illness. Helpguide.org has some great suggestions for those who struggle regularly with insomnia, including some simple ways to diagnose what may be the underlying cause of the problem.
Lack of time outside in the sunlight, lack of time in the dark at night, lack of exercise, stress and the inability to relax our minds before we go to bed can all contribute to lack of sleep. I am concerned too that many of us reach for over the counter or prescription medicines before we even consider how the practices of our faith can help alleviate our symptoms.
So here are some thoughts on how faith practices can help us relax and enter into that sleep which is indeed a gift from God.
- In her article Christian Meditation – God’s Gift for Healthy Sleep Deborah Kukal talks about the important part that meditation on psalms can play in help us to relax and sleep. So when you’re struggling in the night, remember David’s words, and let God’s peaceful gift of meditation fill your soul with comfort, and your body with rest. read more
There are other Christian practices that can help too.
- Lectio divina and a reflective reading of scripture before we go to bed is a wonderful way to relax and go to sleep in the presence of God. Meditation and yoga are other practices that many people.
- The prayer of examen which helps us to review the day in the presence of God, encouraging us to leave the cares and worries we have encountered in God’s hands, is a wonderful way to end our waking hours. I have done this sporadically over the years and realize I need to reinstitute this practice.
- Breathing prayers which encourage us to breathe deeply and regularly can also be of great value. Evidently many of us spend most of our lives breathing too shallowly and deprive our lungs and other organs of the oxygen we need to remain healthy. More than that it can relieve anxiety, stimulate our immune system and even alleviate the symptoms of trauma. Read more. As you know I love to write breathing prayers and have found them to be wonderful tools for relaxing me.
- Centering prayers provide a way for all of us to sit in the contentment of the moment, shutting out the noise in order to focus completely on God. This is not a practice that comes easily or naturally to most of us which is probably an indication of the stress that we live under. If you don’t know much about this form of prayer I would heartily recommend Basil Pennington’s classic Centering Prayer to you.
- Prayer beads are, for many, a great stress reliever and can be a wonderful way to prepare yourself for sleep. You might like to design your own prayer to say with your beads before you go to retire for the night.
This week is garden planning week. Thursday evening a group of people will gather at the house to discuss our vegetable garden at the Mustard Seed House for the next year. It is a fun time but one that always gives me itchy fingers to get outside and enjoy God’s creation.
It is not only those of Christian faith who find a closeness to the divine presence through gardening. I have been updating some of my garden resources that I will post in the next few days and in the process came across some great resources from Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist traditions that I want to share with you.
Muslims Practicing Their Faith
Zaid and Haifa Kurdieh are organic farmers in Upstate New York have worked to create a community supported by their farm and other small businesses. They sell produce at farmers’ markets and also run a CSA from their farm. Their Muslim faith and Islamic laws guide food production and consumption as an article in Gastronomica explains:
The Qur’an categorically divides human action into acts that are either permissible (halal) or forbidden (haram), with some gray areas in between. At its most basic level, Islam decrees that all foods are permitted for human consumption except for those identified by the Qur’an as haram—namely, pork products, alcohol, illicit drugs, flowing (excess) or congealed blood, carnivorous animals with fangs, birds of prey, and the meat of animals and birds that have not been ritually slaughtered. The Kurdiehs believe that these tenets also encourage responsible steward-ship of the land and animals. Their farming techniques, carried out with considerable effort and soul-searching, are a logical extension of these precepts.
There is an additional, more-complicated Islamic principle that many the Kurdiehs and many devoted Muslims strive to follow. It is called tayyib, a word that translates as “good” or “pure.”
In order for a particular food to be considered tayyib, it must be created in a wholesome manner. Although the concept of tayyib far predates the emergence of industrialized agriculture and factory farms, it is clearly relevant to the present realities of the mainstream American food industry. According to Zaid, produce that has been sprayed with pesticides, for example, or harvested by poorly paid migrant workers, would not be tayyib. Neither would fast-food cheeseburgers or sodas filled with high-fructose corn syrup and preservatives.
Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa, who farm some of the least fertile land on the continent, have developed a training manual The Islamic Farming toolkit, to encourage more sustainable farming practices among millions of African Muslims facing a threat to their food security from climate change. It is well worth reading.
Jews Practicing Their Faith
The Jewish Community Gardening Collective is a project of the Farm at Pearlstone aimed at brining together and facilitating the creation of Jewish community gardens around Baltimore. They have published a very helpful guide, Jewish Gardening Resource Manual, which explains:
Gardening is a distinctly Jewish act. The echoes of God’s command to Adam (Gen. 2:15) “l’shomrah u’lovdah” (to guard/till and work/tend) resound through the generations as a call to remember that adam is inextricably linked to adamah. As Jews, we strive to cultivate an awareness and ultimately a practice that recognizes that “the land is God’s; [we are but] strangers and sojourners with God” (Leviticus 25:23). Through gardening, we learn to care for God’s planet, to recognize that Creation is a gift to be blessed and shared. Our tradition provides ritual, blessings, liturgy, holidays, and mitzvoth that connect us with the sacred rhythms of Creation and its Author.
Jewish community gardening is the marriage of the universal and unique aspects of tending a piece of land. A garden is a gathering- place, a home for community-building, and an expression of our deepest values. A Jewish community garden is a hands-on classroom to teach about Judaism’s relationship to Creation. The education may consist of lessons on tzedakah, brachot, t’filah, bal tashchit, or the agricultural roots of the Hebrew calendar. A Jewish community garden is a laboratory, an experimental, experiential test- ing ground for Jewish engagement, identity building, and relationship forming. Reach out to your neighbor, your students, your family, and dig deeply, for surely you will uncover hidden treasures.
I also recently came across this Jewish Children’s Garden Curriculum developed by the staff of Shalom Children’s Center at the Asheville Jewish Community Center. The authors explain:
For young children, the very hands-on activity of gardening is one way to make the quite abstract concepts of the Torah, holidays, and the calendar come alive. Showing them a sheaf of wheat or an etrog, or even growing these in your school garden, will tangibly connect them to Passover and Sukkot.
The curriculum is rich with ideas and projects for children of all faith traditions.
There are a number of Jewish communities that across the United States that grow gardens. A few examples include:
- Ekar: Community Urban Farm and Garden in Denver Colorado.
- The Jewish Farm School which teaches about contemporary food and environmental issues through innovative trainings and skill-based Jewish agricultural education.
- Eden Village Camp in New York State, is a living model of a thriving, inspired, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and vibrant spiritual life.
Buddhists and Gardening
The first book I read on spirituality and gardening that inspired me was Gardening at Dragon’s Gate by Wendy Johnson, who has meditated and gardened for more than 30 years at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, located near Muir Beach, California. In addition to its Zen training program, the center also manages an organic farm and gardens. Formal Zen meditation and training is the foundation of community life at Green Gulch Farm, and is an integral part of the Farm and Garden Apprenticeship Programs.
Wendy Johnson explains:
In some many ways meditation practice is like gardening. Very garden comes alive in the mind of the gardener. By investigating your land, and the plants you love and know so well in your garden, you come to know the heart and mind of your place, and your own heart and mind as well. When you select your favourite tools and begin to shape the ground, in this digging and cultivating, the garden shapes you. Eventually, you free your heart and mind from what you think you know and prefer, and in this work you also free the true heart and mind of your garden. (63)
This video on how to create a Zen style meditation garden is also very interesting, not just for an insight into Zen gardens but for any of us who love creating meditation spaces in our gardens.
If you are interested in being a part of the Mustard Seed House garden team here in Seattle over the coming year – with an opportunity to learn more about gardening organically, a chance to share the produce and enjoy good fellowship with other gardeners, please let me know.
This is photo is of the peace candle in my Advent garden. The full word peace is obscured, the leaf behind is splattered with red wax – a little like blood. I could not help but think of that this morning as I read about the terrorist attacks in France and grieved with the victims and their families.
As the Christmas season, the season of “peace on earth” ends, we are very aware that the peace we long for in the coming of Christ is not fully realized in any part of our world. Hopefully that does not stop us longing for it, and working towards it.
Like so many of us I enter the day with a heavy heart for the victims of violence and the fear it leaves behind.
This first prayer was written by my friend John Birch as he thought of Paris but was aware too aware that in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and other countries such deaths are all too frequent.
Loving God, we pray
for those whose lives
have been cut short
by acts of violence
fuelled by hatred
or religious zeal,
and the individuals
who perpetrate
such horrific acts.
May those who mourn
for loved ones lost
feel the warmth
of your compassion,
and those who rejoice
at such loss of life
meet face to face
the one true God
and understand
the difference
that love can make.
©John Birch, faithandworship.com
—————————————–
The second prayer here is one that I wrote this morning as I thought about the terrorist attacks in France and all the other places of the world that face continual turmoil and unrest. I am very aware of the inadequacy of our words and of the mixture of grief, fear and anxiety that events like this instill in us. Resting in the presence of God, and allowing God’s love to flow through us to those who are victims of these situations is often the best that we can do.
God who weeps, God who mourns, God who comforts,
Weep in us, mourn with us, comfort through us.
God who lives, God who cares, God who loves,
Live in us, care with us, love through us.
God who heals, God who transforms, God who brings peace,
Heal in us, transform with us, bring peace through us,
make all things new through us.
Let all you have created be made new,
In us, with us, through us.
Legendary gospel singer, composer and producer Andraé Crouch died Thursday at the age of 72. He had been hospitalized in Los Angeles since Jan. 3 following a heart attack.
The seven-time Grammy winner was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998. His songs were recorded by Elvis Presley and Paul Simon, he collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Elton John, Quincy Jones and Diana Ross, and he was a backup singer on several Michael Jackson songs.
As a tribute I thought I would post my favourite of his songs – I am posting two versions – the first because it has the lyrics, the second because it also includes some of Andraé’s testimony. May God be with his family as they grieve.
The research is in, gardening, and interacting with nature is good for our health and well being, especially for that of our kids. Living near nature dramatically impacts our health and interaction with nature decreases the health gap between rich and poor. Contact with nature helps children to develop cognitive, emotional, and behavioral connections to their nearby social and biophysical environments. Nature experiences are important for encouraging imagination and creativity, cognitive and intellectual development, and social relationships (Read the article). Kids in particular who suffer from attention deficit disorder can have their symptoms alleviated by spending more time outdoors. Another informative article shares that it helps to relieve stress in children as well.
There is also evidence that exposure to soil bacteria could improve our health by boosting our immune system. And believe it or not even Sniffing Compost Makes You Happy – Literally
Other studies suggest that just looking at nature improves our health and reduces the time it takes to recover from surgery. So imagine what a difference a whole afternoon outside can do.
Getting our kids involved in the garden can have even more benefits. In her article Go Outside and Play: Four Reasons Why Exposure to Nature is Essential To a Child’s Wellbeing, Suzy DeYoung talks about the amazing health benefits of getting kids outside. According to the EPA, indoor air pollution is the US’s number one environmental health concern. They encourage kids to get outside and play but I think that working in the garden can be even more beneficial.
So let’s get our kids outside. Here are some resources to help:
From organic gardening:
The Permaculture Research Institute has a great 4 part series on “Getting Kids into Gardening”:
- Creating a Butterfly Garden
- Creating a pizza garden
- Creating a Resilience Garden
- Growing Creativity in the Garden
Great curriculum for children and gardening from Presbyterian Church
From Container Gardening for kids
- Kids Gardening and “helping young minds grow.”
- Seven Indoor container gardens kids will love
Some Other Ideas for Kids garden crafts
It is time to start thinking about the garden. I know because I am being inundated with catalogues and emails from seed companies.
To be honest until a couple of days ago I was not sure if I wanted to start a garden this year. Last year was a very challenging garden experience for me. It started with the loss of 150 tomato seed starts because of contaminated (supposedly organic) soil. It continued with a feeling of being overwhelmed by both the work and the harvest with too little help and too busy a schedule. It ended with my mind in a whirl wondering where the garden year had gone and why I had not really enjoyed it.
Then I read A New Heaven and A New Earth by Richard Middleton who says:
Many recent studies of the garden of Eden in Genesis suggest that this garden, in its relationship to the rest of the earth, functions as an analogue of the holy of holies in the tabernacle or the Jerusalem temple. The garden is the initial core location of God’s presence on earth; this is where God’s presence is first manifest, both in giving instructions to humanity (2:15-17) and in declaring judgement (3:8-19). The garden is thus the link between earth and heaven, at least at the beginning of human history. The implication is that as the human race faithfully tended this garden or cultivated the earth, the garden would spread, until the entire earthly realm was transformed into a fit habitation for humanity. But it would thereby also become a fit habitation for God.
Suddenly my perspective was transformed. How can I not plant a garden I thought? I am not just planting vegetables and flowers, I am creating a fit habitation for humanity and for God.
So one of my new year’s resolutions is to make sure that I get out and enjoy the garden this year. I want to create something that is worthy of the God I love and worship. And I want to relish this habitation that God desires taking time to walk and talk with God in this place.
However I know I cannot do this alone. So I am in the process of creating a garden team to work with me. Do you live in Seattle? Do you love gardening but have nowhere to get your hands in the dirt? Would you like to make fresh garden salads straight out of the garden? If so perhaps you would like to join of the Mustard Seed House garden community and help us create a place that is indeed a fitting habitation for both humanity and God. Please feel free to contact me and see how this could be possible.
I have always been fascinated by how Christians perceive Jesus and love to chat to people from different theological and cultural backgrounds to explore this. I also love to collect images of Jesus from other cultures and have included some of my favourites in this post.
It is interesting to me that early Christians (and the Celtic Christians we so much admire) saw Jesus as a companion and a brother. It was only after the emperor Constantine became a Christian that the view of Christ shifted to more of an emperor figure. No surprisingly as Christendom took hold and wars became justified as holy wars we also started to see images of Christ as a warrior king.
The more I reflect on who Christ is the more uncomfortable I am with these images of Christ. In the gospels he is more likely to touch lepers and talk to tax collectors than he is to embrace the rich and the powerful. He is more likely to be seen in the face of a repentant beggar than in the face of a self righteous Pharisee.
Supper at Emmaus – by one of my favourite artists He Qi http://www.heqigallery.com/
My own view of Jesus continues to change. I now see him in the faces of the homeless and the mentally ill. I recognize his love in the compassion of firefighters and ambulance drivers. I experience his heart ache in the grief of those who have lost children and friends to racial violence and war. Jesus is all around us. He stands at so many doors in our hearts that are closed to him and asks us to open and recognize who he is.
Here is a poem I wrote a couple of years ago that reflects on some of my thoughts about who Jesus is.
Our God with a Human Face
In Christ Jesus God’s love is revealed
Our God with a human face divinity concealed
Even the simplest act God’s spirit divine
Ennobled and sanctified like water into wine.
Jesus washes feet
Born in stable, raised as a refugee
Compassion and caring in his actions we see
Friend of the outcast the broken the poor
In the faces of others god’s image he saw
The face of the father providing a home
The prodigal son who has chosen to roam
The love of a mother embracing her child
To these faces of God we are all reconciled
But a beggar who is hungry and needs to be fed
A refugee running from a war she has fled
All who are tortured, in suffering and pain,
The image of God in their faces remain.
Sharing the burdens of those who are poor
God’s image in others we seek to restore
Planting our mustard seeds, watching them grow
A kingdom that’s coming glimpsed now as we sow
Preaching the good news, proclaiming God’s peace
Healing the broken, bringing captives release
Enabling each person as God wants them to be
The image of God in their faces we see.
You might also like to watch this short video I put together several years ago when I was reflecting on this. I know the quality is not very good but I still think it gives us some good thoughts to reflect on.
So what type of people and what situations most represent Jesus for you? I would love to hear your response.
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