A while ago I wrote a blog post titled, 4 Reasons to Read the Bible Before Bed. In it I described the benefits of ending each day with a time of musing on God's word. I recently began to consider again that period of time right before I fall asleep and I realized something shocking about my before-bed routine:
After I've brushed my teeth, taken out my contacts, changed into my PJ's, turned off the lights, and crawled under the covers, there's a nightly routine that I have. I reach for my phone, plug it in to charge it then begin to browse Facebook or news.
Do you do this too?
How does my day end? What is the very last thing that I do before I fall asleep? The answer is: browse the internet.
Before smartphones, once I closed my laptop that was it for the night. No more Facebook, no more ESPN, no more online shopping, that's it! But now with phones having gotten "smarter," the internet is comfortably accessible as I lay in the warmth of bed, browsing the internet for God knows how long. I got into bed at 10:30pm but what time did I actually fall asleep? I may be embarrassed to say! 😳 It's with this in mind, coupled with a desire to "take back the night" (borrowing that term from female activists), that I'm going to embark on a 3 week challenge and I invite you to join me.
After I've brushed my teeth, taken out my contacts, changed into my PJ's, turned off the lights, and crawled under the covers, there's a nightly routine that I have. I reach for my phone, plug it in to charge it then begin to browse Facebook or news.
Do you do this too?
How does my day end? What is the very last thing that I do before I fall asleep? The answer is: browse the internet.
Before smartphones, once I closed my laptop that was it for the night. No more Facebook, no more ESPN, no more online shopping, that's it! But now with phones having gotten "smarter," the internet is comfortably accessible as I lay in the warmth of bed, browsing the internet for God knows how long. I got into bed at 10:30pm but what time did I actually fall asleep? I may be embarrassed to say! 😳 It's with this in mind, coupled with a desire to "take back the night" (borrowing that term from female activists), that I'm going to embark on a 3 week challenge and I invite you to join me.
I love checklists. They give me incentive to be more productive and they just make me feel good. A few things that I'd like to underscore about this challenge:
- The checklist items are referring to after you've washed up, changed, and all that's left to do is to turn off the lights and fall asleep. These are literally meant to be the very last things that you do before falling asleep. - Many people have the Bible on their phone and wouldn't it be easy and convenient to use it to read the Bible? Yes, but it is also extremely tempting, as browsing the internet is as easy as clicking the banner that just popped up because someone liked your FB status. What do I mean by browsing? You could define browsing as anything that requires us to scroll down or page forward or whatever. You know exactly what I mean. Set your alarm? Not browsing. Respond to a text? Not browsing. Catching up on FB for an hour and a half? Obviously. Pinterest? Of course! YouTube would also be considered browsing, as I typically roam aimlessly from video to video. Just to be safe, I'm going to read my paperback Bible. - Regarding the length of time for prayer and Bible reading, there's no need to be too strict. Honestly, the main thing is that there is a time of prayer and a time of reading the Bible right before bed. It's normal that as this becomes habit the length of time would grow longer, but there's no need to be legal. Last night before bed I sat at the edge of my bed and spent 3-4 minutes contacting the Lord and it was very sweet. Then I turned off the lights, plugged my phone in and put it away. I fell asleep rather quickly and peacefully. |
Much emphasis has been put on the importance of having a time of prayer to be revived each morning. I am not belittling that at all. I'm bringing up a topic that I feel hasn't received enough attention. We know how crucial a "morning revival" is; how about a "night revival?" The Lord has been convicting me much recently regarding how I finish my days. If you have the same nightly routine that I have then I encourage you to accept this challenge.
If you want to print out the challenge sheet, here's a black & white version: