Focus Friday:Let's Focus on Sleeping

Apparently I have trouble with sleeping.

Not only do I snore and keep my husband awake sometimes, but I have also turned into a very poor traveling companion. Seems like every time we get in the car to go somewhere, I start dozing off. 

Today I woke up to find my husband chuckling as I looked around and tried to figure out where we were. We were just traveling from Orange City to Rock Rapids and nothing looked familiar. 

It seems he pulled off onto a side road so he could document my nap.

He wasn't happy with that angle, so he slowed down and pulled over so he could really get some good shots:

Maybe he was just worried that I was 

going to choke to death on my gum. 

I finally woke up and stayed awake until we got to his mom's apartment (where it didn't take long to start dozing in the chair as we visited).

It's funny, but it's so frustrating to me. I really can't help it. It's not like I say to myself, "Gee, I think I'll take a nap now." No, it's at the most inopportune times that my sleepiness kicks in. 

In church. (Thank you, Gary, for never calling me out on it from the pulpit.)

During hospital visits. (One time I sat on the edge of the bed and joked about falling asleep and a little later I heard the lady say, "I think we've lost Robyn." My eyes popped open to see her and Gary laughing at me.)

In the car. (You've seen the disturbing evidence of that. At least it doesn't happen when I'm driving.)

At my desk while I'm supposedly "working."

Maybe I need to get a little more sleep. Maybe I need vitamins. Maybe I need to start drinking coffee or something. I don't know. 

One thing I do know is we need to be careful we aren't sleeping through life. It's comfortable to stay in our beds instead of jumping up to face the day and dive into new challenges. It can be tempting to just go through the motions in life and keep doing what we've always done because it's familiar. We need to wake up and really live.

Gary is getting a little sick of looking over to see me drooling while we're in the car together. He'd rather have a wide awake traveling companion to talk with and enjoy the ride.

I'm going to work on that...(yawn)

Right now I'd better get to bed or I'll be sleeping all the way home to Allison tomorrow.

"Then [Jesus] returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. 'Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?' he asked Peter. 'Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'" (Matthew 26:40-41 NIV)

Do you get enough sleep? (Studies recommend getting seven to eight hours of sleep each night.) How can focusing on God help you not to "sleep" through life?

Focus Friday: Let's Focus on Language

This week I'm writing my blog on my iPad mini in Germany. I've been thinking an awful lot about language during our time here. Of course, we've been hearing tons of German, but as we have visited different places there have been tourists from all over. I love languages, so it has been fun for me to try to figure out what people are speaking. 

I wish I could speak more German. I started to study it a couple of months before we came here, but I didn't get very far. I can say "I drink milk" and "He is strong." Unfortunately, I don't need to say those things very much. Instead, I should have concentrated on signs and warnings.

"Kein Winterdienst. Bei Schnee und Eis. Benutzung auf eigene Gefahr." 


We saw those words on a sign on an old castle before we started to climb a tower early in our trip. No idea what it meant. We climbed anyway. We have observed similar signs all over in our travels. We look, we shrug, and we move on. We figure someone will either yell at us or rescue us if we are doing something wrong. 

We've been lucky. In most places, people speak "a little bit" of English. It's usually much more than a little bit. We're grateful. I can't help but wonder about people who dare to travel who speak a language that is less common. They must feel so confused and frustrated at times.

I have lots of little examples that show my language problems, but for now I'll just share something kind of funny. After we asked directions from a guard at a castle, I said "gracias" as we left him. A couple of other times I've said "Si'" instead of yes. Since I know Spanish so well, I think my brain defaults to that if I'm not concentrating.

All of this foreign language stuff has me thinking about how we communicate with God. We speak to Him in the language that feels most comfortable to us. That makes sense, doesn't it? I wouldn't try to speak to Him in German (although I could say "You are strong."). I speak to Him in the language I know best. English.

But what language does God speak? Hebrew? Greek? Every language? We just don't know, do we? What we do know is that He understands us and loves us completely. He'll never throw up His hands in frustration or ignore us because He doesn't want to deal with our feeble attempts at communication (Yes, I had a lady do this to me in a park. She just kept walking.). 

Danke, Gott . (Thanks, God.)

 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spurit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans." (Romans 8:26 NIV)

 Have you ever had a problem with another language? How can focusing on God help you communicate with Him perfectly wherever you are? 

(Now I have to go see if I can schedule this to publish  on Friday since blogger is all in German on my iPad!)