Going into the night, ending each day.....

I don't know about any of you, but I have a hard time when it comes to sleeping. Most of it is just turning the brain off. I take an over the counter "melatonin" to help slow things down. I got an e-mail about how one ends their day is as important as how one begins a new day! Thought we could all benefit from this. Computer is still down at home so am relying on the computer pictures available at the library. This is pretty, isn't it? Sometimes going to sleep is like "walking a long pier" for me!!! Blessings to you, deb

The way that you end your day is just as important as how you begin it. Here are some tips to help you have a better night and a better tomorrow.

1. Let go of your responsibilities at day’s end. Set your burdens aside and relax. Take time for happy moments with loved ones and friends. Be relaxed and jovial. Don’t carry the day’s work into the night. Let it rest while you rest.

2. Spend some time every evening with your Bible. Do it regularly. When this becomes a consistent, regular habit, it begins to take hold of your daily life, and it changes things. It will change you. Read a chapter or two a night until you have completed the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then read Paul’s Epistles. Add to this a Psalm or some great Old Testament chapter such as Isaiah 55. As you do this, some wonderful insights will come to you, and you will feel so helped that you will have a new mastery of your problems.

3. Tell a few people that you love them. Telephone someone or write it in a letter. This will take you further out of yourself, and that, of course, will get you closer to other people.

4. Before you go to sleep, run over your life, thank God for everyone and everything. Count your blessings, name them “Lord, bless this conversation.”

5. Empty your mind of the day as if you were emptying your pockets. Remove all the the irritations, frustrations, disappointments, hurts and regrets then go to sleep with a cleansed and uncluttered mind.

6. Finally, commit your soul into the kindly care and keeping of the Lord, and then go to sleep in peace. He watches over you. Affirm “God watches over me, over my house, over all my loved ones. In His peace I have peace.”