Sleepless in Sinsinawa

-

“So, how’d you sleep?” No one ever asked me that question when I was younger, but it is now something I get asked often. Sleep is an issue for me. I am no longer very good at it, despite the fact that I have a comfortable bed that I love to be in.

I’ve tried many solutions to address my problem, I have practiced meditation and relaxation techniques, downloaded apps designed to aid sleep. You would think that listening to music might be helpful, but as a former music teacher, I can’t help analyzing the music. I’ve listened to many an audio book, figuring that the story would transport my mind beyond my own racing thoughts.

Know what works best? Prayer, of course! I start with some scolding. “Dear God, if you are as loving and compassionate as I trust that you are, why on earth are you plaguing me with this? I will be better able to serve you tomorrow if I am not so tired.”

Sometimes I grab the olivewood rosary in my nightstand drawer, figuring that fingering beads has to be better than counting sheep. I usually don’t get through more than a decade or two.

The best is when I am able to place myself in the curve of God’s loving, sustaining embrace. Even if I remain awake, I am deeply resting.

Ann Henkel, OP
Mobile, Alabama

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nuns can have nose rings? (and other frequently asked questions)

-
Image
One of my favorite things about being a young sister-in-formation is allowing people to ask me their burning (and sometimes silly) questions about religious life.   Questions like: Do nuns have jobs?   Can you still go dancing and swimming?   You mean you get to keep that nose ring? Becoming a sister right now is an interesting thing: religious life has changed drastically in the past fifty years, but many people’s stereotypes about it haven’t.   Many of these stereotypes seem superficial (ie- all nuns wear habits; nuns don’t dance) but they may reflect deeper misconceptions about religious life… like the idea that sisters are somehow more holy or less human than “normal” people.   For a long time, my own misconceptions kept me from really considering religious life. And so I enjoy the questions.   I love making people feel free to ask them, and I love surprising them with the answers.   After all, they aren’t really asking about my nose ring;...
Read more

Happiness and Joy in Religious Life?

-
Image
I never wanted to be a religious sister (nun) because I felt I would never be happy.     This calls me to reflect on what is happiness.     Some say that happiness is a feeling.     It is when you feel good and cheerful about something that happened or is happening in your life.     However, I think that true happiness comes from when you make others happy.     After I went out of my way to assist someone and they unexpectedly tell me how much my helping meant to them.     I experience an unexpected warm feeling inside.     True happiness I think is a sense of fulfilment you feel even if what you did was not acknowledged, yet you know that deep down inside you did and gave of your best to help someone without any conscious ulterior motive.     You did it because it was the right and necessary thing to do at the time. Everyone searches for happiness and many know that true happiness cannot be found in things,...
Read more

HOME

-
Image
  I am fortunate to have an iPhone and I use the maps feature regularly when I travel to different places. What I like best is that on my return journey all I need to do is hit the HOME button and  no matter where I am it routes me safely home. I’ve been thinking about the significance of HOME lately especially as I and so many of our sisters have recently moved and settled into new spaces.  Can you find yourself at home in the gift of this day? Do you find yourself at home in your heart? I have returned to live at Sinsinawa mound and feel deeply at home. It is the space from which our sisters are sent out on mission and to which they return for their final resting place. I think of all who have been forced or bombed out of their homes. All the millions of displaced people searching for a place to call home, all the unhomed peopled on our own city streets especially veterans and those with mental health problems who have no place to call home. How am I called to respond o...
Read more