My childhood music minister Gerald B. Ray died at 92 recently and I was pleased to be able to attend the service celebrating his extraordinary life. His daughter Kristy shared that her father was in the habit of reciting the 23rd Psalm each night as he went to sleep. While he was in hospice care, Kristy would sometimes quote the beloved passage with her father.
One evening the effects of a recent stroke rendered him unable to speak the words and Kristy began to say them alone. And then she made a mistake. Though the retired choir director could not correct her verbally, Kristy reported that he furrowed his brow in a manner familiar to all of us who ever sang for Gerald. He certainly heard and noted the error. Kristy stopped.
“I’m sorry, Dad! I’m so sorry. I promise, I’ll get it right tomorrow. I’ll go home and memorize it, Dad!”
We all laughed at her story. Gerald’s standards were impeccably high and he made everyone around him better. Kristy went on to say that a few days later Gerald was able to speak again, and they enjoyed reciting the psalm together many more times.
After hearing this story, I was struck by how intentional Gerald was about his bedtime routine. Following the death of his wife, Trevelyn, Gerald had lived alone nearly twenty years. Yet he was not alone, of course. Jesus was with him and he worshipped him in the sunset years of a private retirement just as he had during the extremely public years he spent under a gigantic spotlight as one of the nation’s most high-profile church music directors.
How do you prepare for bed?
What do you think about as you drift off to sleep?
Do you have good thoughts or bad thoughts?
Are you intentional about it, or do your thoughts simply wander to whatever random thing happens to be on your mind at that moment?
Have you ever caught yourself planning evil as you drift off? Maybe a way to get revenge? Or maybe a cutting comment that will make you feel better?
“Woe to them that devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning light, they carry it out” Micah 2:1.
“Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place. He comes down and treads the high places of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope” Micah 1:3-4.
God punishes evil: God will melt the mountains and split the valleys, melting the earth till it runs downhill like water in a flood. Yet, we lie in bed imagining harsh things to say, or clever words we want to put in an email, or perhaps some secret, passive way to get back at our neighbor for some perceived injustice. But do we sleep well pondering such thoughts? Is never-ending drama and strife the path to a good night’s sleep and the good health that should follow?
Instead, turn your attention to God. Give him a few minutes of your time. Confess sins, attitudes, and grudges. Ask him for peace. Spend a minute rehearsing memorized scripture, such as the 23rd Psalm. What could do more for your state of mind at the end of the day?
“In peace I will both lie down and sleep. For you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” Psalm 4:8.
Dear God, teach us to give you our time and attention, particularly as each day begins and ends. Meet us there. Commune with us. Make us better, more honest worshippers.
AΩ.
Household Words: 