Naps.

I love them. I hate them.

After four pregnancies, I’m coming to believe that they should be a part of almost every day for the pregnant or nursing mom.

But naps can be tricky. Especially when you consider other children in the picture, temptations to be too lazy or too productive, and a mind that sometimes wreaks havoc on your conscience.

Sometimes it feels like you can’t do anything else. Sometimes it feels like such a waste of time. Sometimes it feels like they cause more problems than they help.

A few weeks ago while Sophia was sick, I sat down on the couch getting ready to crash for a nap.  Somewhere in the third level of my subconscious or something, I had this thought: “Lord, please give me the rest I need right now. Help me not to take more than what I need. Help me to be happy and to trust you even if I don’t get any. And help me to wake up refreshed and ready to serve my family again.”

Now please understand; what I just wrote there was far more coherent than the actual thought in the moment. But it did kind of startle me and make me think, “Why have I never prayed about naps before?” (Besides, “please help everyone be good, and please let me sleep for two hours, and please help the baby not to cry!”)

If we’re to do everything including eating and drinking to the glory of God, why not endeavor to take naps to His glory as well?

Resting to ease our bodies of the nightly feedings or physical demands of pregnancy and nursing is completely legitimate; but our rest should be with the intention of getting up to again serve and fulfill our roles as wife, mother, and follower of Jesus.

How many times have I gotten up off the couch so frustrated and hurt because I hadn’t gotten what I needed? The problem was actually my attitude, concentrating on my needs rather than seeking to better help those around me. God knows what I need; He is a better Shepherd to me than I will ever comprehend. I need to do what I can to be a faithful steward of my body and mind; but ultimately I must trust Him and receive what His good hand gives or takes with thankfulness.

I would be remiss not to mention that these thoughts were planted in my mind by the ladies at Girl Talk. Their post Is it Wrong to Look Forward to my Child’s Naptime? addresses some of these very same thoughts. I love this line, “… we as Christians should approach all our time—even our leisure time—as “God” time. Therefore we should rest to His glory, just as we work to His glory. And bringing our rest into this light helps us to evaluate it biblically.”

Here is the original question, “Is the goal of my rest to be refreshed in order to better serve my family and others?” 

It’s a great question. Even though I read this quite awhile ago, it is only now becoming a part of my conscious thought process.

Just one more area of my life to surrender. Just one more idol I hold dear to lay down.

Just one more way to discover that His mercies reach to the heavens and His compassions fail not. Just one more to way to remember how much joy there is in trusting Him.

Just one more way to glorify Him in this vapor called my life.