I have had a bee buzzing around my bonnet regarding sleep patterns.

Right at the beginning of the Bible, back in the creation stories, we are told that

God made the great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night – and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:16-18

The bee that has been buzzing in my thoughts, has made me wonder what it would be like if we were to heed the lights of day and night and attune our body clocks to them. I considered acting upon these thoughts when lockdown hit and time was a lot looser than pre-pandemic diaries allowed for; I didn’t, though.

The bee has kept buzzing, especially now that the nights are drawing in and everything feels a bit more hygge; pass me another blanket and let’s snuggle up in front of the fire with a good book.

Over the last few days I have been preparing for Pumpkins and Hedgehogs an online and in person evening retreat taking place next week, and the buzzing has increased. As I have prepared guided meditations and reflection cards around the theme of resting, I decided that I would take the plunge and re-arrange my sleep schedule to fit nature’s patterns.

The first problem I encountered was my family! Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life, however they don’t want to go to bed at 7pm (the time it is currently getting dark) and they don’t want to be eating their dinner at 5pm either. ‘This is what babies do’, my teenagers explained.

The second problem was loneliness: I didn’t want to go to bed on my own, the sound of TV in the background, aware that everyone else was still having fun.

The third was the lack of darkness. I had planned to go to sleep with the curtains open so that I could be naturally awakened by the dawning day. However, we live in a rather different time from Genesis when the only light was provided by heaven. Our home now is in town and we have a street light positioned outside our bedroom window. During lockdown we were living in the countryside with so few streetlights that I could count the whole village’s supply on my fingers.

I persisted, and found myself tucked up in bed at 8pm. By midnight I’d been graced with four hours of sleep, but then I woke. I have been informed that in times gone by midnight feasts were a very real thing: that having gone to bed early in winter months the whole family would wake hungry and need a snack before going back to sleep. I wasn’t hungry, I was over heated, but I tried to resettle myself with a cup of tea and slice of toast and tucking myself back into bed. By now my brain was alive with thoughts and ideas regarding a proposal I have been preparing, so I gave up trying to sleep and left my snoring husband in bed whilst I opened my laptop.

Four hours later, proposal written, I returned to bed and managed to sleep for another four hours. As a sleep experiment it hadn’t gone to plan. There were so many things that I could tweak and adjust, but I would never be able to remove that street light. So I have given up, and that buzzing bee is finally resting, for now anyway.

I though, am not settled: there must be something I can do to re-address the sleeping/waking pattern that so often leaves me tired. My second attempt at practising what I am preparing to preach was to make bed time more intentional.

I set a time at which I would refuse to watch another episode on the Netflix season we are currently binge-watching, I would tidy away my current craft activity, check the washing up has been done, let the dog out for a wee and lock the doors, then don my pyjamas before retiring to bed with a warm drink and a good book (limiting myself to just one chapter, certainly no more than two). This I did and, oh so blissfully, didn’t wake until daylight.

A holy hibernation isn’t just about catching up on sleep or escaping from work and chores, but allowing ourselves to fall in line with the rhythms of creation, remembering that we too are created beings. The times when there is more daylight are the seasons of activity, and those with less are for resting. Maybe not completely, but certainly adjusting our expectations of ourselves. It isn’t easy to do: technology is there for us 24/7 which means that we are tempted to work with it all the waking and sleeping hours too. Part of that intentionality of rest is switching off from the busyness of tech.

I have other plans as the days get shorter; creating a super snuggly corner where I can sit at the end of the day and engage in a prayerful meditation, perhaps an Ignatian Examen to ‘count my blessings’.

As the seasonal rhythms change how can we allow our own rhythms to change as well, rather than forcing them into unnatural patterns? It may take a lot of energy and will power to be so counter cultural at first, but I have a hunch that doing so will not only bring deep rest, but feed our souls too.

If you would like to spend more time resting and meditating, why not join me for Pumpkins and Hedgehogs: How to Have a Holy Hibernation next week?

Book here for Pumpkins and Hedgehogs Online Tuesday 18th October 6.30pm via Zoom.

Or here for Pumpkins and Hedgehogs at The Quiet Garden, Lopcombe SP5 Thursday 20th October 6.30-9.30pm (to include pudding!).