Spiritual Sleep Apnea

I’m a runner.  I have been all of my life.  When I was a little guy, I would have my grandma time me as I ran around her house.  When I played football, my favorite part of practice was when we ran “to the pole and back”.  Same goes for baseball.  I loved warming up by running around the field.

I ran my first 5K when I was in the sixth grade.  When I was in seventh grade, my middle school formed a track team.  I signed up and ran track through high school, as well as cross-country.

Since high school I’ve run off and on depending on the season of life that I’m facing.  The bottom line is that I consider myself a runner.

There’s just one problem.  I haven’t really wanted to run much over the last year.  I ran for a few weeks a few months ago, but I just lacked the desire to continue.  I questioned why I seemed to suddenly not care about something I’ve loved all of my life.  I think I figured it out.

I have sleep apnea.  I was diagnosed about a month ago.  Jan had been concerned about me for some time.  I went to a sleep center and had a sleep study conducted.  I was found to have sever sleep apnea.  The reason I didn’t have much energy and felt the way I did was discovered.  I believe this is the reason I don’t want to run much anymore.  I just don’t feel like it.  I’m now being treated with a contraption like in the picture above and I can feel the desire to run coming back.  I feel better.

I wonder if what I’ve gone through physically lately is much like what we go through spiritually sometimes?

How often, once we ar born again, are we on fire.  Our love for the Lord and His church are strong.  We can’t get enough His word.  We love to hear all sorts of preaching.  We read our bibles daily.  Our prayer life is vibrant.  We’re active in serving in our local church.

Then something happens.  Slowly our desire fades.  We just go through the motions.  Things change.

What happened?

If you know anything about sleep apnea, it’s caused by an obstruction to the airways causing you to have difficulty breathing.  You wake up (though usually not consciously) several times a night gasping for air.

Is that what happens to many of us spiritually?  Do we develop spiritual sleep apnea?  Is there an obstruction preventing us from breathing the deep things of God?  Does this drain our spiritual energy to the point where we don’t have the desire for anything else to serving and loving God?

What’s the solution?

I don’t know of a mask we can wear that will take care of this.  But I do believe that there are two places that we need to start.  I believe that we need to start with prayer.  We need to just begin praying.  Pray about the situation.  Pray about your life.  Pray about everything.  Start your day in prayer.  End your day in prayer.  Simply pray.

The other thing is simple as well.  Read the Bible.  Read it daily.  Read it in the morning.  Read it in the evening.  Think about what  you’ve read.  Mull it over.  Chew on it in your mind.  Meditate on it.

I believe that those are the two best ways to treat spiritual sleep apnea.  I believe that praying and reading God’s word will restore the spiritual energy that is being sapped by obstructions in our life.

Have you eve had a period in your life where you have had “spiritual sleep apnea”?