Sleep Tight
Ephesians 4:25-26 (New Living Translation)
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”[a] Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,
Today’s Message in the music comes from a young artist by the name of Ne-Yo. He has a song on the charts right now titled “Mad”. The song is about not going to bed mad at his girl. He asks if they can make it right before they fall asleep, because He can’t sleep through the night with pain in his heart. I have been listening to this song faithfully since I first heard it on the radio a few weeks ago. I love the meaning behind the words, but it wasn’t until this past week I began to allow to take root in my life.
As some of you may know I am 27 years old. My biological father has been in and out of my life pretty much for 27years. Well, we have recently begun to go down this father/daughter road again and he was actually doing very well. He would call at least once a week. He remembered my daughters name and even started to leave me songs on my voicemail. Well, a few weeks ago he said that he wanted to mail me a package. I waited and waited just to humor myself and it never came.
Now let’s fast forward to present time. I’ve received two voicemail messages requesting my last name. The first message just made me very upset and it immediately put me into my “things never change” mindset. I vowed I wasn’t going to go down this painful road again. I was angry, disappointed and mad, but then I remembered this song and realized that life is just too short. So what if he didn’t know my last name (cause it has changed a few times), but the amount of energy I used to be mad and set in my old mind-set was time my package could have actually been in the mail. I had to make the conscience decision not to let something so small in reality become so huge in my fantasy.
So many times in our lives we take things and people for granted. We say and do whatever we want to whomever we want, because we think we will have another phone call, another visit, another day to get it right. We throw each other under the bus when trouble comes, and we throw each other away like rags when we feel we have no more use for them. In the past year I have lost two very dear people who I wish I had one more chance to tell them I loved them. One more phone call just to see how they were doing. We made plans after plans to see each other, but because we knew we had plenty of time ahead, we kept canceling and putting it off. Well, we didn’t then and for some of us- - - -we don’t now.
The same holds true in our relationship with the Father. We put off truly giving our life over to him until we get all of our ducks in a row. We set a age limit to when we will give up the night life, to live with the Light. We tell God we’re going to serve Him, just as soon as this or that happens. We are going to start tithing as soon as we get out of debt. We are constantly bargaining our lives away because we think we have more time. Well, no one knows the hour or the day that they we will lay down and never wake up, or the day they may wake up and never make it back home to get in their bed. And just like the Ne-Yo can’t sleep at night, if we are not in right relationship with the Father, we should not be able to sleep comfortably either. There should be a wrestling in our spirit to get it right while we still have the chance.
So, today let’s not “go to bed” without making sure we are in right standing with God first and foremost, but also check out your personal inventory. Did you offend someone that you need to apologize too? Did you forget to tell someone how much they mean to you? Did you miss an opportunity to bless someone? If so, make it right before it gets dark, and the street lights of your life come on for the last time.
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