Light a Candle

The Exercise:

Spend the last thirty minutes of the day in prayer and meditation.

Dim or turn off all lights and light enough candles that you can see clearly enough to read.

Read from the Sermon on the Mount for 10 min.

Then spend 20 min in silent meditation.

The Why:

Our society is chronically sleep deprived, running from one thing to the next, and then closing out our day in front of computer and television screens that keep us up past our natural limits.  In such a society sleep itself can become a spiritual discipline, a way of acknowledging our limits and the need to let God take over.

Many sleep experts say that we need to transition into sleep and that the way to do that is to dim our lights for the hour before we actually go to sleep.  This creates an opportunity for us to spend time in quiet reflection and scripture reading, rather than staying up to watch one more television show.  Tonight try out the above routine and see how it affects the rest of your night.