Sleeping and Washing as Spiritual Disciplines

So I'm back into my American college-student routine: Go to class, go to work, go to meetings, go to my room and do work, go to sleep at 1 AM. Get up early and repeat.

From my childhood, I remember Sunday school teachers telling me that in such a busy world, we have to make time for God. "Just give him an hour," they said. "If you spend one hour watching TV, you should be able to read the Bible for one hour too."

I'll save my thoughts on guilt-driven Bible-reading for another day. The point is that we are told to "make time" for God. First of all, humans can't make time. We can make calendars and watches and clocks and sundials and be slaves to them, but who holds the sun in the sky? Who suspends the twisting globe? God made time. I think.

The notion of "making time for God" is hidden behind the underlying assumption that there is a clear line to be drawn between solidarity with God and necessary daily tasks.

Here at the SALT House, we have free laundry facilities. It's awesome, yes, but it is also damaging. A few months ago I was washing my clothes by hand. It's a lot of work, for sure, but I developed a relationship with my clothes. I knew each shirt and trouser inside and out, and I appreciated being able to use them more and more each day. As I watched each outfit go from dirty to clean, I had the opportunity to take in everything around me and truly enjoy the benefits of God's provision of soap and sunshine.

Sometimes I am not able to successfully get the recommended eight hours of sleep. I'm sure some of you are in the same boat. For those of us who take 18 credits in a semester, we know going to bed before midnight is not an option.

So in the morning I wake up and I'm exhausted. Someone then tells me I have this obligation to spend time praying with God, and that I'm probably not a quality dude if I can't manage to do that. Then I get grumpy and folks therefore say, "You gotta go relax and read your Bible or pray," when in reality that will just grind my gears more, because I know I have stuff to do which other people require of me.

And that is why if I am ever a professor I will not have my students read or write often, unless they want to. I'm not complaining about schoolwork. I'm complaining about people expecting too much out of human beings, then expecting them to be able to sacrifice sleep and washing of clothes by "spending time with God" to regain their energy.

I just recommend that we eat together, wash clothes together, sleep in, and enjoy God's presence and provision through all of these things.

Just some incoherent thoughts to keep you reading until I have something more interesting to write about.