The many comments I received since “resurfacing” was very cool. A Thousand Thanks. We all can sleep better now and wake to a new day. Today is a a gem of a Wisconsin summer day – blue skies, low humidity, 70’s. Perfect for the youth group that headed off to Great America this morning. God bless the chaperones! They’ll sleep well tonight. Speaking of sleep – I have never had trouble finding my way into dreamland. No insomnia for me. No sleepless in Sheboygan. But did you know…
Throughout history there have been many famous insomniacs. Some of these figures discovered unique ways of treating or coping with their sleeplessness:
• Napoleon Bonaparte rarely slept more than 4 hours a night. He simply learned to live with the condition.
• Painter Vincent Van Gogh preferred to self medicate. He would apply a strong dose of camphor to his mattress and pillow. Although it no doubt helped him fall asleep it was also steadily poisoning him.
• U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt found that a shot of cognac in a glass of milk helped him fall asleep.
• Actress Marlene Dietrich found that a sardine-and-onion sandwich on rye helped her fall asleep.
• Film comedian Groucho Marx’s insomnia began when he lost a small fortune in the stock market crash of 1929. To ease the symptoms he would phone strangers up in the middle of night and insult them.
• And it is reported that film actor W.C. Fields, on his worst nights, could only fall asleep under a beach umbrella being sprinkled by a garden hose.
If you ever are tossing and turning – repeat this verse over and over again. “I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.” Psalm 4:8
Maybe Napoleon wouldn’t have been so short If he had slept longer in the morning.