Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep....on my straw mattress?

I’ve driven by this mattress that landed in a cut wheat field of straw stubble for a few weeks.  It makes me smile.  It makes me want to stop my vehicle and go out there and lay on it.  Not sure why. It is so odd, so out of place.  The wind must have caught it and flipped it there from someone who was moving.  And they didn’t notice their mattress flying into a field?  So I wonder who will remove it?  Will the farmer burn it when / if he burns off the straw stubble?

Did you know that there are 23 mentions of “straw” in the Bible?  I like this one:

How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?  Job 21:18

Some days I feel like “straw” before the wind, swept away by the gales of life pushing me down a road, feeling out of control.  This last year we’ve learned a lot about “control” with our teens and their desires to be in “control.”  Giving them choices, having them try again when the “gale” blows them off course.  Using grace and wisdom to direct their paths once more on a path we desire for them – a path of faith, church, family and future following Christ as a leader.  Learning empathy (not my strong suit!)

 

We all get blown about from time to time.  It is a matter of picking up our mattresses and getting back on course. 

Seeing that mattress sitting there yet….reminded me of this classic 18^th century prayer we used to recite at bed time – did you recite it too?  I used to think it was morbid to talk about dying in ones sleep….but I realize now, it is the faith of the promised salvation this prayer is recognizing.  My Dad died in his sleep…..what a way to go….salvation greeted....

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.