Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 / Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 / John 6:24-35
The recommended amount of time for sleeping is 8 hours.
For most of us to be able to sleep for 8 hours at night is like a luxury. Because, most of us may be sleeping less than that, maybe 5 or 6 hours.
Besides, our sleeping time may also be interrupted every now and then. And at times, insomnia may also cut down our sleeping time.
But whether it is 8 hours or lesser, we will know whether we have rested well by the state when we wake up.
If the alarm rings and we have difficulty waking up, that already tells us whether we have rested enough.
And if we can't even hear the alarm, and we oversleep, then we may need to do a check-up.
But often, we are forced to sacrifice our sleeping or resting time because of the busyness of our work.
We spend quite an amount of time at work. And even after working hours, we are busy with other matters like family and personal matters.
So, we cut away our sleeping and resting time in order to try to finish our work.
But no matter what, there will always be work, and maybe even more work to be done.
But, we should pause and ask ourselves, why are we working so hard and tiring ourselves and yet not sleeping enough.
In the gospel, Jesus tells us not to work for food that cannot last, but to work for food that endures to eternal life.
And like the people, we too will ask, what must we do to do the work that God wants.
Jesus gave this answer: This is working for God; you must believe in the One He has sent.
That might sound quite simple, but let us not think that what is simple is easy.
Because to believe in Jesus is indeed hard work.
To believe in Jesus means that we have to carry our cross in order to follow Him.
To follow Jesus is to follow His way of love. And that means to love others just as He has loved us.
It also means that we forgive others just as Jesus forgave His enemies when He was nailed to the Cross.
It also means that we put into practice what Jesus taught us.
Like, praying for enemies; like, returning a blessing when others are cursing us; like, to give and not to ask back.
And just as we will sacrifice sleep in order to get some work done, we too will cut down our prayer time in our busyness.
But, Psalm 127 reminds us of this:
“If the Lord does not build the house,
in vain do its builders labour;
if the Lord does not watch over the city,
in vain does the watchman keep vigil.
In vain is your earlier rising,
your going later to rest,
you who toil for the bread you eat,
when He pours gifts on His beloved while they slumber.”
Let us do that work of believing in Jesus by praying and loving God and others.
And when we rest for the night, we will have a peaceful sleep, and we will wake up fresh the next day to keep believing in Jesus and loving God and others.