Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep...
Do you remember this classic children's prayer? The most common version comes from The New England Primer. " Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my Soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Various editions of this prayer have come into being over the years—I suspect because the thought of a child dying in his or her sleep was not a pleasant one to think about. Mind you, back in the 1700s when the original was written those kinds of tragic events would have been a distinct possibility. But the prayer, one I prayed as a child, came to mind this morning as I read Psalm 132. In this prayer the psalmist makes a vow to the Lord not to sleep until the place of worship has been built for Him. Here's how it goes: " I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob ". Most of us have no