Midnight Musings

It seems a cruel fate that I have to be at work at 8:30 am. Let me throw in the "I'm extremely grateful to have a job...that I like..." disclaimer and proceed with my thought. My creative time is about 9 pm - 2 am. I do my best thinking then. I have energy and juices are flowing. It's the day-to-day that drags me down into sleepy-land and kills my late-night dreams. When I'm on vacation (as I just was for two full weeks), my body reverts to Owl mode.
I am struggling to shake Owl mode as I get back into early bird mode. I have never been an early bird. I care nothing for worms. Who ever wanted a worm?

I lie in bed (like just now for 45 minutes WIDE AWAKE) thinking of great things to design, emails and blogs to write, songs, plays, etc. then fight falling asleep...then fall asleep, and feel that my best ideas get trapped in the neverland between conception and drool. Like just now. Had a great idea for something that I will do this year. Practical. Cute. Inexpensive. And I'd like to get started right now, at 12:15 am, thank you very much. (But there are worms for me in the morning if I go ahead and go to bed, right?)
I also laid there thinking about how to best reorganize my hall closet. I rearranged my den bookshelf in my head according to book color. I prayed. Prayer will sometimes lull me into a state of relaxation, and sometimes sleep. But tonight I crossed the hall to the big glowing screen and here I sit.
To reference my previous post, I had the oddest thing happen tonight. I am reading "A Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster (if you haven't read it, order it on Amazon today--I'll wait--it's that good). So the crazy thing is, the next chapter for me to read was on the Discipline of Simplicity. SIMPLICITY. OK, Holy Spirit...you trying to get my attention? Foster even mentioned the fallacy of gadgetry and the time-sucking traps that gadgets can lure you into. Yes, gadgets. (and as a side note, I did spend another hour and a half working on the wireless router that will not allow me to password protect AND actually use it wirelessly at the same time--arg! This was after an hour on the phone with my friendly Indian IT helper. So, free Wi-Fi hotspot at the Joneses! I will get it protected...but I need a tech breather for now.) Back to the disciplines. You see from this entire post that I must be in need of discipline in general. :) Simplicity. This practice is one that may well be the hardest for me to do. I see shopping as a challenge, an adrenaline rush, a problem to be solved. Jerod sees it as spending money we don't have for things we don't need. And usually, he's right. Jesus talked a lot about simplicity, too. He and his friends traveled pretty lightly. So, I really will be using those furlough days to clean out closets, reorganize, and reprioritize the place that "stuff" has in my life. I am tired of my stuff and the way it sits around lazily, occupying space and begging for attention. I am not taking a vow of poverty or anything, just really evaluating what I have and why I have it. And not just with pieces of wood and glass and plastic...what "stuff" is in my schedule and my life that is leeching my time and attention from the Kingdom of God? It needs to go out the door, too, so my home can be restored to order. Goodbye Stuff. Hello Life.