Last week we talked about times of trial and questioning leading to better communion with our Father and a desire to be nearer heaven. This week I learned that it is so important to take care of your body in both good times and bad. Sometimes in our seeking heaven we forget that a healthy body that is being well taken care of is a much better instrument for good, truth and righteousness than a body that is tired from rushing rushing rushing.
I'm afraid that often sleep is the first thing to go...or maybe that's just me. I get my list of things that need to happen, things I want to happen, things that other people need me to do and just fun things that I am so excited about and then before you know it its eleven o'clock at night, you still have a journal to write in, a shower to take and some prayer that would be good and its even later than it should be and morning comes early. Now some people can get by on less sleep, but I realize my judgment starts going to pot at six hours of sleep, I forget to take important pills, I rush through important routines and before I know it another day is done and I haven't accomplished most of the things I wanted to do.
I think we often believe that sleep is just a temporal, mortal suggestions, but to the Lord there is no temporal commandment, just look at the Word of Wisdom. Often in looking at that law we focus on not drinking coffee or smoking tobacco, sometimes we even notice the part about eating the grains of the earth and using meat sparingly, but we skip over two big ones, or at least two big ones to my way of thinking. First that this law was given to protect us from the evil designs of man and second that we need to get more sleep.
When we put lots of over processed foods into our lives we can become addicted to fake foods with lots of fillers than can change our DNA and re-write the chemistry of our brains. We fill our bodies with chemicals and substances they were never meant to have and just have a general feeling of blase. When we add in fresh foods and learn what foods help our bodies feel the best they can we set ourselves up to better feel the spirit and have the energy to do what it says. Along with this is good sleep...if we always have a fuzzy brain from lack of sleep it makes it harder to process what we learn, hear the spirit and apply what we are learning. It's taken me an hour to write this blog, because I couldn't even get my brain in gear because it's so tired....mind you it's now late so I still have a long way to go to take my own advice. I realize that life is hectic, crazy, busy and there are many demands on our time. But if we don't make our health and well-being a priority, no one else will for us.
But I do know the better we care for these amazing bodies that Heavenly Father has given us and Christ has paid for with a price, the better we can do their work and find joy in our purpose.
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