Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Night Demons

The other night, I finally came up with a name for what often affects me in the night.  Many nights, I will go to bed thoroughly exhausted, only to be woken up during the night and find myself wide awake for hours with my mind racing and my heart burdened about the things in life causing me great concern.
Friday night was one of those nights.  I went to bed shortly after 10:00 pm, fell asleep, and awakened less than an hour later.  I went to the bathroom, and by the time I got back in bed, I knew I was in trouble.  I was not going right back to sleep.  I had gone to bed feeling upset with the behaviors and choices made by two of my children and that all came flooding back to me at that moment.  As I lay there, fighting against my thoughts and trying to get back to Sleepy Land, the name “Night Demons” came to mind.  That is what I decided to name the circumstances within our family which cause me great concern and keep me awake at night.  They are usually related to our children.  I fought to go back to sleep for almost an hour, and finally I couldn’t lie in bed any longer.  The Night Demons were taunting quite persistently and one of my dogs had begun snoring so loudly that I couldn’t stand it anymore. I got up out of bed, grabbed my journal, Bible, and pen and went to my husband’s office to write out my feelings and thoughts.