"I die daily." 1 Cor. 15:31
"Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, The death of each day's life..."Macbeth
In "Groundhog Day." Bill Murray plays an arrogant, self-centered TV weatherman who visits a small town to report on Groundhog day--and gets trapped into reliving the same day over and over. At first, he thinks that waking up at 6 a.m. on the same day over and over is heaven. He can do anything he wants without worrying about the consequences because the next day he gets to start again from scratch. He thinks he's a god because he knows in advance every detail of the day ahead of him, and he twists them to his own demented ends. But as boredom and senselessness set in, this heaven becomes hell--and he makes life hell for everyone else as well. Eventually, something clicks in his head or in his heart. His scorn and bitterness give way to understanding, acceptance, perhaps even love. He weeps when an old man dies of starvation and cold, and when the nurse says, "Sometimes people just die," he replies, "Not on this day." He then sets out to make his one eternal day perfect, doing all he can for every person he encounters. And in the end.... Well, watch the movie to find out if there is an end!
I Die Nightly? What a blessing that we don't have to repeat the same day over and over until we get it right. Like Paul, who had to "die daily" (1 Cor. 15:31), we have the opportunity to be recreated each morning. As D.H. Lawrence wrote,
"And if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created."
~D.H. Lawrence
We awaken from the "little death" each new day (over 25,000 of them in 70 years!) to the same life but to new opportunities to do it differently. Hopefully each day brings us a little closer to becoming the kind of child our Father meant for us to be, and we are closer to the day that we shall Awaken into the real Life.
I'm not sure what is ahead this today, but I'm thankful it is a new day, and not just a repeat of yesterday. I'm going to start it off with some quiet time with my Father, getting centered, and getting some direction--and then I'm going to see what this new day has in store for me.
Go rent a copy of "Groundhog Day," and after you've watched it, be thankful that we don't have to relive the same life over and over, but are blessed with a new life each new day.
A favorite "Sleep" quote
"Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed." ~Arthur Schopenhauer
More about sleep and rest:
http://ourdailynoodles.blogspot.com/2008/11/3-reasons-why-67.html
"Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care
The death of each day's life...": sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast." Macbeth
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