You are Getting Sleepy
“And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.” Revelation 5:4 KJV
One of the hardest parts of the nights is the sleeping. Most nights this is not really a problem. The exhaustion, good or bad, from the day yields to sleepy eyelids. On good nights, its hit the bed, shut the eyes, and boom, there is the sleep. But on some other nights, sleep seems more like a job.
I read somewhere that a good way to get yourself to sleep is to take your mind to a different place. The example they used was imagining being beside a quiet lake in the woods. The only sounds around you are a babbling brook and the birds chirping. A soft, refreshing breeze crosses your face. There is no outside world, and complete calm fills not only the air, but your soul as well.
I have tried this tactic before and sometimes it has actually worked for me. A problem that has developed to this strategy is that, over time, my mind often catches on to this trick. It’s like I’m beside the lake and suddenly I realize, “Oh, you’re just trying to fool me to get me to fall asleep. I’m not really here.”
So I have to be even smarter than my mind. Instead of a lake, I find another place to take my mind. Since I switch up the places, my mind is usually asleep before it knows it has been tricked. Usually, this just takes my mind off the stressful parts of the day and forces it to relax a little.
Once you get to sleep, it’s a different story altogether. I guess there could be a debate over whether your mind has control over it or not, but sometimes dreams pop up in the middle of the night. Maybe it is just something you ate late that night that causes it.
It could be that a dream has a deeper meaning. Maybe the dream is just something that was on your mind before you dozed off. It’s just disguised with strange elements that confuse the story a little bit. When you wake up, you can often wonder, “What does it really mean?”
There are countless websites devoted to dream interpreting and the meaning of certain objects that appear in our dreams. For instance, one website I visited, verywellmind.com, suggested that if you are dreaming about being chased, it usually means you are avoiding something.
Sometimes I think dreams result from things like a movie you just saw, a book you were reading, or something someone might have said to you during the day. I have also found that a stressful day at work or a disagreement with a friend or family member can result in a bad dream that night.
Anne Royall might have been the first female professional journalist in America. At the time, she was probably better known for her travel books. In addition to describing an area, she also would talk to local celebrities to add a little spice to her books. It is said that she met and talked to every man who would eventually become, was, or had been President from Washington to Lincoln.
Royall’s life didn’t start too well. She was born near Baltimore, Maryland. She was born Anne Newport. At the age of three, her parents moved to the western Pennsylvania frontier. Her dad died a short time later. Anne’s mother married a man named Butler. Butler was killed in an Indian raid and her mom was made a widow for a second time.
Anne Royall’s mom moved her family to Staunton, Virginia to be near relatives. Later in American history, Staunton would be the birthplace of future President Woodrow Wilson. Because of a skin aliment, Anne’s family would move again to Sweet Springs, which is in present day West Virginia.
Being a widow in those days was no easy task, but Anne’s mom was able to find work as a servant for both Anne and herself. Anne was sixteen-years-old at the time. Reclusive American Revolutionary War veteran William Royall was who they went to work for. To have servants, I’m sure William Royall was pretty well-off.
William must have been quite taken by Anne’s bright, attentive mind, because, when she was just twenty-eight, and he was in his 50s, he married her. Anne was very happy and for the only time in her entire life, her finances caused her no worries.
Fifteen years into the marriage, William died. His nephew and Anne were the executors of his estate. William Royall left his entire estate to Anne. The Royall family was horrified and contested the will. For seven long years the case dragged on and on. Finally, the court sided with the Royall family.
While the trial was going on, Anne sold one of the houses and two lots. She would start traveling and her first trip would take her south to Alabama. On this trip she decided to start writing a book about her travels. It’s a good thing she started writing, because when she got back, she found out she had lost her inheritance and now would have to find some other source of income.
When her money ran out, Anne went to Washington DC to apply for a federal pension as a widow of a Revolutionary War officer. Just like today, the government never makes it an easy task when you apply for something. In this case, widows had to plead their case before Congress.
Feeling she needed an advocate to help her with the process, she went to the Secretary of State, who would eventually become President, and she told him her story. The future President agreed the law needed to be changed and he promised he would help her with her case. She would win the pension battle, but once again the Royall family would step in to claim most of it. This Secretary of State, and future President, will come up again later in our story, though.
The future President and his wife would even invite Anne over for dinner. When Anne left DC, the future President’s wife gave her a white shawl. Later, when Anne traveled north, she would stop into the future President’s parents’ house and she would tell them how well he was doing.
Still there might be another possibility of what a dream means. Maybe God is trying to tell you something. The Bible is filled with stories of dreams, dreamers, and dream interpretation. Very early on in the Bible (Genesis 20), God came to Abimelech in the night in the form of a dream.
Abimelech’s dream was not one of those good dreams however. Abimelech was the king of Gerar and Abraham was scared to death of him. Abraham deceived Abimelech by telling him that is wife Sarah was just his sister. “Cool,” Abimelech must have thought. “I’ll take her as my wife.”
God warned Abimelech in the dream that he was about to sleep with a married woman, or Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and that he was going to die because of that sin. Well, old Abimelech woke up fuming and he confronted Abraham. Realizing Abimelech’s heart was in the right place, God spared him.
Then, of course, there is Joseph of the coat of many colors fame. First, he was a dreamer. He made the mistake of telling his brothers and dad his dreams though. Instead of dying from certain death in the bottom of a well, which his brothers had thrown him into, one of those brothers had “pity” on him and talked the other brothers into selling him into slavery.
When Joseph was eventually thrown in jail, he had a few chances to interpret dreams. Each time, his interpretations turned out correctly. One interpretation was for the head honcho of Egypt. The Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he made him the number two man in the land.
Well, the other night I had a weird dream. It was about a king. The king had everything he wanted in his kingdom. Everything was peaceful and he was very happy. Then, one day he decided to go for a walk outside his kingdom. He would go alone.
He came close to the edge of this forest. When he turned to his right, there stood another man. Surprised, he turned to his left and there appeared yet another man. Puzzled, he looked at each of the men again. Something was strangely familiar about the two men, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it.
As the three of them walked closer to the forest, he looked at the two men again. “Wow,” he thought, “they look exactly like me.” They continued to walk towards the woods never uttering a word to each other.
When they actually got to the forest, the man on the left finally spoke. He said, “This is awesome! I’m all in for this adventure. Let’s go!” The man on the right chimed in, “No. Let’s just head back home. It’s safe and far from any possibility of danger.”
The two men didn’t really argue, they just expressed their opinions. The king stood there listening and thinking. Finally, he said, “You both make very valid points. What I think we will do is travel in the forest just a bit and if it gets too dangerous, we will just turn back and head home. Life at home is great, but there has to be more to life than just being safe all the time.”
So, they headed into the forest. There were a lot of trees and some nature sounds, but there wasn’t any real danger they came across. Suddenly there was an opening to an area with a lot of ferns. Quietly, they moved closer.
In the middle of the ferns was a beautiful, young lady. There were two other beautiful ladies standing on each side of her. As the king looked closer, he noticed that the two ladies beside her looked almost exactly like her.
Now the king was really confused. Here he stood with two men who looked just like him and there a woman stood with two ladies that looked just like her. “What should he do?” he thought. Trying to be as quiet as he could, he consulted the two men who were with him.
The man on his left said, “Oh, come on, this is a no brainer. We go over there and introduce ourselves. Don’t you want to find out about them and what is out there? We can’t turn back now.”
The guy on his right, ever cautious and always afraid to do the wrong thing replied: “We need to turn back and we need to turn back now. We don’t know if this is a trap. Besides, they might have some kind of disease we could catch. The real no brainer is that we better run while we can.”
The king thought about what both of the men told him. He replied, “Again, I see value in both of your points. Adventure is a great and fun thing, but not always the wisest move to make. Still, what is my life if I keep it all to myself. Risks do need to be weighed, but sometimes your soul needs to be filled with things you don’t safely possess.”
So, out from the bushes the three men came. They went over to meet the three girls. At first, the girls seemed startled, but then they seemed to be a little relieved that they weren’t on their journey alone either. The more they talked, the more they realized they had in common.
Soon the conversation turned to what they should do next. Before the king had an opportunity to speak, the man on his left blurted out, “Let’s go further into the forest, I’m sure there are even more opportunities to come face to face with and more adventure to excite our souls. Besides, there is safety in numbers, for my little buddy over there that seems to worry about everything.”
The girl on the beautiful girl’s right responded, “Wait, stop picking on him. I see his point 100%. It was nice meeting you three, but I think this has been enough of an adventure. We just both need to head back to our safe homes. We can stay in touch.”
The king and the beautiful girl glanced into each other’s eyes. You could tell they were searching for the “right thing” to do. Just as they were about to speak, I woke up.
Anne would get back to her traveling and writing. On one of her trips she came across a story on a corrupt innkeeper who was charging way too much for his rooms. She now found a new voice in which to shout: corruption.
Anne would stop travelling and head back to DC. Now 62-years-old, Anne purchased a printing press and started a newspaper. It was called Paul Pry. It later changed its name to The Huntress. She hired orphans to help her set the type, but for a woman to operate a newspaper in those days it was a very tough task. She was always under constant stress and financial strain.
Going after corruption in government didn’t befriend her many allies. Many postmasters even refused to deliver the paper to her subscribers. Once, she even turned down a $1000 bribe to remain silent, even though she could have really used the money.
In DC, Anne lived near Capitol Hill, close to a fire house. A small Presbyterian congregation met at the fire house. The fire house was built with federal funds and this stirred Anne into action. “Separation of Church and State?” questioned her headlines.
Anne then claimed that one of the members of the church began praying silently beneath her window against her wishes. Then others, according to her claim, showed up to “convert” her. Anne took matters into her own hands and loudly started cursing at the members. She was arrested and charged with being a “public nuisance, a common brawler and a common scold.” She was fined $10. Another Washington paper, The National Intelligencer, paid the fine for her.
The story of Anne Royall is fine and good, but you might wonder what does it actually have to do with a President? First, let’s understand Washington DC at the time. DC wasn’t the beautiful city of monuments it is today. Basically, it was built on a swamp and there were very few buildings around there at the time.
Then there were two other items that hadn’t been invented yet. The first was air conditioning. Washington, even today, is a very humid town in the summer. Without air conditioning, there weren’t many options to cool off.
The second item that hadn’t been invented yet was the men’s bathing suit. At the time, it was quite common for a man to search for a very private spot to go swimming to cool down. Since they didn’t want to get their clothes all wet, they would just strip down to their birthday suits. When they were done, they would dry off and put their clothes back on. No one was none the wiser.
When John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State, he started a regular habit of going down to the Potomac River. Remember, there weren’t many houses in DC at the time. Once he reached the river, he walked through the woods quite a distance. Then he would strip down to his birthday suit and take a swim. It was not an uncommon practice for men of that day. It was usually a very private affair.
Legend has it that trouble maker Anne Royall was dissed by John Quincy Adams when he was President. It is very easy to see that, with Anne’s temperament, that wouldn’t set too well with her. The legend continues that, since Adams wouldn’t grant her an interview, she followed him to his swimming spot.
With her hidden behind the trees, it is easy to see that John Quincy Adams had no idea he was being followed. Once he stripped down, jumped in the water, and swam out a bit, Anne went to his pile of clothes and sat on them until he returned from his swim. She would not get up until he agreed to the interview. Once he did, she left and he put his clothes back on and returned to the White House.
This is one of those Presidential stories that people love to tell. In all probability, it probably never happened. As noted above, John Quincy Adams, when he was Secretary of State, and Anne Royall seemed to have a pretty good relationship. All she probably had to do was ask him for an interview, and he would have probably given it to her. He had helped her in the past with her pension request when he was Secretary of State.
Second, the dates don’t line up. John Quincy was President from 1825-1829. Anne didn’t return to Washington, to start her paper, until 1831.
Third, if caught, John Quincy Adams didn’t learn his lesson. He would continue his swimming routine for most of his life in DC.
Different people have different “favorite parts” of the Bible. Many like the Psalms and Proverbs. They are quick reading verses that often offer comfort, wit, and wisdom. Still others like the stories of the Bible. Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, Daniel, and a host of others offer stories many of us have heard since childhood that can calm our souls.
The wisdom of Jesus’ parables or Solomon’s words motivate others searching for a deeper meaning to this life. Good’s victory over evil causes others to claim that is their favorite part of the Bible. Moses’ showing those Egyptians not to mess with His God, Paul’s conversion, and even Joshua’s victory as the walls came tumbling down at Jericho could be some of their favorites.
On the flip side, there are parts of the Bible that some people don’t like or tend to avoid. Most people will not admit to this, but if we really dive into the truth, most of us struggle with some parts of the Bible.
Who wants to hear about our sins and the Bible often lays them right out there for us? We try to second guess their meaning. Sometimes we claim they were only relevant during the time period in which they were written. If that doesn’t work, we deflect other’s sins being greater than ours, like that makes ours right.
Another Bible area where many struggle is so–in-so begat so-in-so who begat so-in-so and on and on it goes forever. Then there are temple measurements and long descriptions of temple objects. What in the world is a cubit?
For me, one of the hardest parts of the Bible is the Book of Revelation. Some people really like this Book. I just find it hard to understand and there seem to be many interpretations in which no one totally agrees on its meaning.
Some like the confrontational conversations and trying to provide evidence to prove how right they are. Revelation gives them plenty of opportunities to do just that. Still, Revelation was put in the Bible for some reason.
Revelation is a dream, or vision John has about the end of the world. Strange creatures do various tasks that are both on the side of good and on the side of evil.
In the beginning of Revelation John gets emotionally involved with his dream, or vision. He seems to struggle to contain his disbelief of all the trials and tribulations the “saints” come under. In chapter five, he even starts crying.
Throughout the Book, the message seems to remain constant: True saints will remain true to the cause if they totally believe in it. It’s like it is saying, “It’s going to be tough, but hang in there. It will be worth it.”
I thought a little bit about my dream. It could be about my life. Lately I have, like many men my age, wondered about my life and its purpose. I spend a lot of time wondering why I was put here on this earth. Surely I wasn’t put here just to sell plumbing products.
I believe the king is me. The life I have is great, but a nagging spirit rests in my soul that there is something else I should be doing. As I travel along life’s path, I have that adventurous guy on my left that seems to want to just throw caution into the wind and just not worry about the consequences.
Then, there is that ever cautious guy on my right who is always afraid of doing the wrong thing. Taking chances is just not his cup of tea. I feel like he wins most of the arguments. Feeling like one side wins, and that there is no balance, might be the stirring in my soul. Too much adventure isn’t good, but neither is too much caution.
The beautiful girl, I believe, is life itself. The girl on her left, the adventurous life, the one that is always taking chances without worry of the consequences. Again, the cautious girl on her right is a world living in a shell, fearing every decision, and fearing doing the “wrong” thing.
When we only listen to the adventure on our right, selfishness and straying from God often happens. When we only live that safe life, we can become judgmental or worse yet, fail to do what God planted us on this earth to do. After all, He wants us to love His creation and He wants us to help others come to know Him.
Today, no one really knows if the story of Anne Royall and John Quincy Adams ever happened. Still, that doesn’t stop the telling of the story. Without even knowing, you could pick either side. It’s your choice, you can believe it happened or you can believe it didn’t happen.
That is the way life is, it’s a constant lineup of choices. Looking for the right things to do or the right choices to make, can consume our time. Before you know it, you are old and you haven’t done anything.
God created life to enjoy, not to be scared of. There are boundaries, called sins, that He doesn’t want to rule your life, but that doesn’t mean He wants you living under a rock. The most important thing is to live the life God has given you.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Please help me not be a fence-sitter. Please let me look for Your direction and move the way You lead me. Don’t let doubt be the overriding choice that causes me to do nothing. Amen!
