Counting Sheep and Getting Sleep

When I was a child, I thought there was nothing cooler than staying up late. Sleepovers with no bedtime were always so exciting! My friends and I would try to make it through as much of the night as possible without sleeping. This wasn't too hard for me because I was certain if I fell asleep I'd miss something! Even when I wasn't at sleepovers I did what I could to stay up late. There was one year where I insisted that I needed music to be played at night to help me to sleep - or maybe it was to help me stay awake!

Looking back, I laugh at my antics and this desire to be up at all hours. How did I not realize how wonderful sleep is? As an adult, there's nothing like a good, full eight hours of sleep! Yet, even knowing this now, there's many a night I don't get those eight hours. Some nights, just as I enter dreamland, I'm woken up by a mental to-do list popping up in my mind of things that are not yet done. Do you have that experience? What keeps you up, if anything?

The disciples knew a thing or two about a giant to-do list. Everywhere they went, people appeared. The expectations to teach, feed, heal, pray, and preach were nearly constant. I wonder if the disciples felt the pressure to just keep going and never rest. Have you ever felt that way? This week as we look at Mark 6:30-34 and 53-56, we'll explore rest and what it means in a busy, busy world.