Keep Calm and Take a Nap

Yesterday, I napped. It was a delightful thing. I got back into bed at 9:25am, and woke up at 1:15pm. For the first hour, I just thought about all the things. You know, everything. All the mum stuff. All the household stuff. All the To-Dos I keep not doing. Like a Dot-To-Dot, but without numbers, trying to piece them altogether to make a vague picture. 

I refused to let myself scroll on Insta or Facebook, knowing that would be a waste of this precious nap time. It was one of those naps that I felt I had waited 16years for. I remember napping with my first baby, all those years ago. He'd feed and then fall asleep, I'd feed then fall asleep. Job done. And he was a good sleeper; he still had a sleep after school every day and even at senior school in the first two weeks, they phoned me to say he was asleep. 

When I had my second son, there were wonderful moments when I managed to get them both down for a nap at the same time. Oh so precious. That's some of the best mumming out there, if it can be achieved. (I never had that guilt bit where I would frantically use the time to catch up on the housework. I'm sure the husband would have loved it if I had), but instead I would get under a duvet, just to rest a little. To breath a little. To be me for a few minutes. To not give out for a while. I needed recharging as their recharge was even faster and more superior.

Then I had the third; a ball of energy. He always needed less sleep. He was the kid who from age 2 and a half, til about 9 or 10 didn't even stay in his room at bedtime. I remember people saying he'd grow out of it in a few weeks, but it took about 7 years. We just let him fall asleep on the landing in the end, and we put him to bed when we went to bed. 

The fourth one I remember he'd fall asleep all cuddled up on me, with the tv on, so I had to make sure I'd had a wee, with the remote control nearby, and good neck support. It's like mum Ninja training which you don't think about with your first. But we'd normally get disturbed by the nursery run. 3hr nursery slots do not leave much time for activities which tire them out well enough to fit in the nap well enough. I don't seem to remember five and six, and their napping abilities, which is a slight concern as they're the newest ones, but somewhere in there, I started childminding and nap schedules were up to Ofsted standards but at varying times. And I think Ofsted frown upon 'on the job napping'.

So, this nap was beautiful. 3 hours of silent duvet wrapping, with no school or nursery runs, with the phone on silent incase the school rang to tell me one of them had broken their glasses or forgotten a PE kit, or knocked heads with another kid. Nothing I needed to be woken for. And I awoke to some verses on Instagram about rest, because I obviously invited the world into my nap time.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Matthew 11v28

Obviously the wonderful thing about napping in the day, is the physical rest and restoring of energy, as well as how ridiculously sneaky it feels. But I love this verse, because as well as physical rest, I believe it is talking about spiritual rest, emotional rest, mental rest, and soul rest. In my recent vlog, I mention about having time with Emmanuel (God with us), in the midst of the busy! There are plently of people, most people in fact, who can't just nuzzle down into a duvet for a few hours, but we can still take a moment to come to God, our Heavenly Father, and cast all our worries onto Him, share our burdens with Him, stop and breath for a few minutes and allow Him to bring rest to our souls.

If you're a mum of a little one, I do hope you don't have to wait a decade for a daytime nap! But soul refreshing can be yours right now. If you've got a few minutes, watch this worship video and breathe in His love and His presence, and actively cast your burdens onto Him. He who cares for you, more than you even care for your little ones.