Читать книгу Before We Say Goodbye: Preparing for a Good Death - Ray Simpson - Страница 21

Every time we go to sleep it is a little death, for we sink into unconsciousness and lose control of our life.

A dying person needs to die as a sleepy person needs to sleep. There comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist. NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST STEWART ALSOP, D. 1974

Christians and others often think of sleep as a nightly foretaste of death. Therefore, as we practise laying down in rest, we also practise laying down our lives in our final rest.

To sleep requires us to let go of things that preoccupy us and to trust ourselves to the unknown, to the dark, to the possibility of a new dawn following a period of unconsciousness.

Breathe deeply. Relax. As you breathe out, let all that is past ebb away. Then breathe in the sweet, renewing grace of sleep.

This is an instinctive act of trust. This small amount of trust can grow into the greater trust needed for the last time we sleep on earth.

The following is a good prayer to repeat before sleep:

Sleep, sleep, and away with sorrow,

Sleep in the arms of Jesus.

Sleep in the calm of all calm,

Sleep in the love of all loves.

Sleep in the lap of the Lord of life.