Message from Pastor Mori
Dear Ravenswood Fellowship Family.
How is your soul?
As we think about our soul reset during Advent, I think about my most important daily reset time: sleep. I was reading about why our sleep is important for our body, mind and soul, and I learned something new about sleep.
How was your night? Usually, I sleep well, but as we have entered the busy Christmas season, I have had trouble with both the amount and quality of my sleep. When I have had a very busy day with several meetings or when the church has a big project then that day I wake up during the night and cannot go back to sleep easily.
I am not the only person with this problem. The New York Times found that many people often say, "I'm exhausted. I was up half the night." Maybe you have heard this from your family or a friend.
The New York Times article says that "more than a third of American Adults are unable to consistently get a good night's sleep, with millions having trouble failing asleep or staying asleep. And the pandemic seems to have only made things worse, even for those who were previously "good "sleepers. Remote work gave many people more hours in the day for personal use, but at the same time it turned the workday into a 24/7 endeavor, with emails, text and Zoom calls at odd and often unpredictable times."
I think COVID-19 and our changed lifestyles have affected to our daily sleeping cycle, too. We are hearing daily news about thousands of cases of COVID-19.
So, now I want to invite you to think about all of the COVID-19 victims and their families. We know that countless families lost their loved one from COVID-19. According to Northwestern Medicine and Rice University research in 2019, grieving spouses who reported sleeping poorly had high level of health crisis such as heart disease and cancer.
I believe God gave us the night as a rest time to restore our body and mind. And this Advent, I hope we think about those who cannot get rest at the night. Advent is a waiting time for the glory of God, and as we go through, pause and pray for the ones who are unable to sleep, because of their grief, or someone who could not sleep due to worry about their health or family's health issues. Or someone who could not sleep because of concern for loosing job and financial crisis, or someone who overwhelmed by business in this season so could not sleep.
And you who, with your own reason could not sleep.
I hope all of you have 6 to 8 hours of good and sweet dream.
And enjoying rest time.
So I pray for your sleep.
Advent Blessings
MORI
Ps) Here I want to share Good night, Sleep Tips from The New York Times report that expert offer a variety of tips for getting a better night's sleep.
- Avoid all source of caffeine in the late afternoon and evening, as well as a big heavy meal close to bedtime.
- Practice good sleep hygiene. Go to be and get up at about the same time each day.
- Do not use alcohol to help you unwind. Try a warm bath or meditation
- Reading before bed is great, as long as it's not on a computer or tablet that emits sleep inhibiting light.
- If outside light impedes sleep, install light-blocking shades or curtains or use a sleep mask. If noise is a problem, use earplugs or a white noise machine.
- Consider cognitive behavioral therapy, which challenges underlying thoughts or behaviors that may be keeping you up at night. | 
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