Facet 3: Sleep and Eat

               Have you ever gotten hangry? You know that feeling you get when you haven’t eaten for so long, it starts to make you angry. Or when you do not get enough sleep that you become frustrated at everything around you. Well, this goes into our four facets of rest.

               The third facet is to get sleep and eat food. The first two facets talked about our spiritual rest. This is will talk about our physical rest. If a person does not eat enough food or get enough sleep, their judgment becomes cloudy. People will not be able to make a clear decision when they do not focus on getting some food or getting some sleep. In 1 Kings 19 (NIV, 1984) Elijah started to worry and get stressed over the issues in life. Granted, there was a famine in the land, there might not have been enough food to go around. So, he ran away and prayed to God that he would die. After he had gotten some sleep and eaten, Elijah was able to continue with his journey for another forty days.

               Sometimes, we just simply need to get a good night’s rest or have a good meal to feel rested. I have had moments where I would go on long stretches of work where I would not receive the needed time for proper sleep or time to eat. It was not as bad as Elijah’s situation, but my head was foggy and my decision making was not good. I was not focusing on what my body needed. Sure, I went to bed and ate food, but I was not prioritizing what my body was asking for. Our bodies were not designed to work all the time. If you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or burnt out, then I would suggest getting some dinner or closing the laptop to get some sleep.

Resource

               Scofield, C. I., English, E. S., Mason, C. E., Babb, W. S., & Karleen, P. S. (1984). Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible: New International Version: New Scofield Study System with Introductions, Annotations, and Subject Chain References. Oxford University Press.