I rarely have trouble falling asleep at night. Usually, I
read five or six pages of a novel, turn out the light, say my prayers and go to
sleep within minutes.
On the rare occasion I cannot drop off, I silently recite a
few Bible verses or the lyrics to a hymn, and drift into dreamland.
A few weeks ago, after praying, my thoughts ran rampant in
my head and I could not nod off. I switched position and recited a few more
verses. No luck.
Then imagination took over. I had always heard of counting
sheep jumping over a fence as a sleep inducement, but had never tried it. Hmm. I wonder if it works.
I closed my eyes and imagined a little wooly white lamb
jumping over a low fence and running off. A second little sheep
followed—three—four…ten, eleven… twelve.
The next lamb had a red face.
I opened my eyes and frowned, rolled over on my side and
tried again. Two more little red-faces leaped over and disappeared. I settled
more comfortable. Then, the next lamb had a lime green face, then a sky blue
one, a neon yellow one. I smiled. This was fun.
To my surprise, the following two had normal white face.
Then, in quick order: a lamb with pink polka-dotted wool, one with purple
stripes, followed by one with green and blue plaid wool.
I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes. What next? I wondered.
I decided to go downstairs and have a cup of hot milk. I had
never tried that either, but how could my imagination possibly mess up a cup of
milk?
