Are You The Devil?

He woke up with a bang right in the middle of the night, not slowly and gently as you would expect from a well rested sleep. It was around 3am any way and he was up till 1am so there is nothing rested about his sleep. He was going from one room to another in a frantic frenzy, picking this and picking that,  droping things hapharzardly all over the place, making a great racket in the process.  He had woken me up, so I  had no choice but to watch this craziness going on. He seem determined to wear himself out. After watching for a while, in a normal voice I asked, breaking his frenzy, ‘Are you the Devil?’ He sure was not expecting that, that stopped him for a brief second in his tracks, he turned and looked at me, asking ‘Why?  I answered him, that the scripture say the devil goes to and fro like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That got him, he didn’t stop his annoying pacing, but now he had a puzzled thoughtful look on his face as he continued his to-ing and fro-ing.

That was my opportunity,  so I  called unto him and asked him to sit right next to him, he reluctantly agreed, he was still restless,  tapping his two big toes, then shaking each leg intermittently,  sitting there besides me he was  fidgeting,  but I  did my best to pretend none of these was happening.  I took one of his hands, held it, that helped to limit his fidgeting and softly I asked him to tell me all that was bothering him, and then he started, it was a long list comprising of everything from the important to the unimportant,  not missing out the ridiculous and incomprehensible,  I  patiently listened,  when he finished I carefully went through the list, debunking the conspiracy theories, outlining reasons why we shouldn’t bother about this or that, once I finshed he started all over again on the same points, so I  had to run through again, I did this about 4 times. I reminded him we had already made a list of all the things that needed doing and prioritised.  He insisted they all needed doing, I was not prepared to argue, I  agreed that yes they needed doing but not all now or at once, most if not all could wait.

At the end of the fourth go I had had enough, I  put my foot down and made him understand that God forbides if he was unwell and in hospital he will not be in a position to worry about all these things and that his focus will be his health and life will continue with or without him. He replied to me that, well he is not in the hospital, so he might as well continue with his unfruitful endeavour. I made him understand that if does not desist, he damn well is going to end up in that hospital.  He thought for a while and started again, ‘but, but ….’ this time around I was firm and insistent, ‘no buts, we are not going there!’ Slowly he wore himself out, the tapping stopped, only one leg was shaking but slowly,  he stopped fidgeting,  rested his head on my shoulder and went quiet, staring into space, before I know,  the one shaking leg stopped,  all was totally quiet now, the staring eyes became less wide and the lids began to shut, his head got heavier on my shoulder and before I knew, he was gone. First a soft snooze that became a deep snore. I sighed a sigh of relief, what a night? I  went off to sleep.

In case you were wondering who my companion was above, it was none other, than my mind, bullying me to succumb to all its ridiculous worries and pointless concerns, we have to tame the mind, otherwise it takes over and leads us to where we need not go. We are not the devil, there is no need to indulge a pacing mind. We hold the key, calm your mind, sleep, the good Lord gives his  beloved good sleep.