Whenever I’m sick, I hate nighttime. Why, you ask? Because I can’t sleep.

Often, in the day, I take a nap or two, and then at night—meaning around 7:30—I fall asleep and it’s a good, long sleep. I’ll wake up, hours later, delirious and feeling like I’m dying, and then look at the clock.

Hours later? Ha, that’s what I thought!

Typically it’s around 9:30. Which is when I normally start reading before I sleep. Only nine hours left before I can start the day.

Other times I fall asleep around eight or nine thirty and then sleep til 12:00 AM, which, I’ll admit, is much better than waking up at 9:30 PM.

But the problem is this: I can’t fall back to sleep. I’m sweaty and freezing at the same time, tired and fidgety, delirious and slightly out-of-wack, and mumbling things that I will likely not remember in the morning.

You might be asking yourself, “Why is Willow telling us about her sleep schedules for when she’s sick?”

Hold on, give me one more minute.

When I’m lying in bed, crying and blowing my nose every five seconds, I often pray fervently, “GOD. Please, please, please, PLEASE let me fall asleep.”

And I’ll lay awake for hours, doing nothing but reading some dumb romance book and asking for sleep.

Do you know what I could actually be doing when I have hours of free time?

How about, instead of praying for sleep, I could pray for…maybe some guidance for a certain situation? Or peace in a trial? Or understanding of a particular experience?

I have a lot of time on my hands. I’ll admit it—I might spend too much time on my phone when I could be doing some more important stuff like praying, studying my Bible, or even doing homework…

So I ask you…what are you going to do in your wasted free time? Are you going to use that time wisely or just use it to do whatever you want?

This is definitely something I’m going to be working on.

‘So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’
1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV

Paul writes that we should use the time God gives us to do something worth while. Something that will be a treasure forever, not just a temporary earthly treasure.

What would count as a heavenly treasure that we can do on earth today?

That might look like serving your community, prayer, worship, working on better characteristics like the fruit of the spirit, or even just being more patient with your siblings.

It doesn’t take much—even just a small few-minute thing like praying before you start your day.

Thanks for reading!

(And let me know in the comments if you have any good midnight-reads for future sickness. 😉)

~Willow