A Simple Request
Tags: Productivity, Sleep, God, Wellness, Happiness

If God asked you to do something, would you do it?

Something simple, menial, seemingly pointless? What if you suffered from exhaustion? Pain? Fear? What if he promised to take all of those problems away from you if you would just do this simple task? Would you do it then? What if that simple task was the difference between health and sickness, emptiness and fulfillment, life, and death?

What if all he asked of you was to write 4 blog posts that you personally had no idea what you would write? Would you sit, sleep-deprived writing a blog because he asked you to, rather than getting that much-needed sleep? What if he asked you to wash your hands, or rub dirt in your eyes? Would you have enough faith to do something small like that in order to heal?

Why Not?

My mind is taken to 2 Kings 5 in the Bible when Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman telling him to wash in the Jordan River 7 times to heal his leprosy.

Now, from what I understand, the Jordan River may not have been the cleanest or most beautiful river, it must have been gross considering his reaction. He would have rather bathed in one of the other local rivers, or been healed in some mighty production of a miracle because he marched off.

Thank goodness his servants had a sound mind and reminded him that he would have gone and done some great thing if the Prophet had asked it of him, otherwise we may have never heard of the miracle of his healing.

How many of us are too proud to do some small and simple task asked of us (as Naaman)? Why do we hesitate? How many blessings or even miracles are we missing out on because of it? Especially in the instances that the request is so simple. If a prophet of God were to tell you in person today to do something simple, and promise you health because of it, would you at least give it a try?

I mean, the worst that could happen is that we leave in a state no different than when we showed up right? You would think that it would be easy to try something harmless and maybe even silly if it meant that our lives would improve yet we choose to ignore so many of those simple requests every single day. Simple tasks that if addressed, could have the potential to turn everything around for us.

Why is it so hard for us to do these things?

A personal example of this for me is in the Doctrine and Covenants chapter 88 verse 124 the common phrase, “Early to bed, early to rise” comes up. Right in that scripture, we are promised that if we go to bed early, our minds would not be weary, and in the same breath, it says that if we rise early in the morning, our bodies and minds would be invigorated.

I have such a difficult time getting my kids to bed at a consistent time every night, I have plenty of excuses for staying up late; the one I use most often is that it’s the only time in my day that I have to myself, or adult time, etc. etc. I mean, who hasn’t heard the saying “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise”? It is such a simple suggestion, and yet for some reason, I cannot seem to hold myself to it.

Not only am I up late, I am up with the baby a lot still, I am up checking on the kids (we had a scare in August, I often am up checking to see if the baby is still breathing and/ or warm enough). Then, I am usually up early with one of the kids. If the kids happen to sleep in that day, you bet that I am sleeping in right along with them.

It seems I have read articles that would second the notion that “early to bed and early to rise” is sound advice. Still, despite having multiple sources backing up this claim from scripture, I find myself constantly repeating the same pattern of no sleep.

Can I tell you something? I feel miserable.

How many of you are having the same problem? I wouldn’t be surprised if sleep was half of my problem. How many things in my life would improve if I could just get this one thing under control? Over the next several weeks / months, this will be a big focus of change for me. I am going to make it a goal to be in bed before or at least by 10:00pm and up between 6 and 7. What’s the worst that could happen, I get a little sleep?

Try it With Me

Why is it so difficult to just jump in and get started? I am ready for a change, are you? Do you seem to struggle with getting to bed and getting up at decent times? Are you struggling? Try this out with me and let me know how it is going! I will vlog about my progress on my Handbook for Happiness channel on YouTube.

You have a good night! Wish me luck!