Ever since I was a little girl, I would say this prayer before I went to bed.
"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"
I say this prayer every night, something my mother taught me, along with brushing your teeth, washing behind your ears, and wearing clean underwear every day.
What I want to know, is what if you die in your sleep, (Before you wake)and no one wants to take your soul?
Do you not die?
I am confused.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
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11 comments:
It should be:
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the lord my soul to keep,
keep me safely through the night
and wake me with the morning light"
Your version is something completely out of context that was used as a popular prayer in the 50's and it's meaning was lost long ago, if it actually meant anything at all...
God holds your soul in his tender care, and if you should die before you wake - you will find yourself resting there in his safe keeping.
Everything on earth dies one way or another. Don't be confused, rest in his care - and the love of all your friends!
My favorite prayers:
"May the Lord grand a peaceful night and a perfect end to us and to all our absent brothers and sisters. Amen"
May Christ dwell in our hearts through faith, and may charity be the root and foundation of our life. Amen
and my favorite:
The Lord bless us and keep us!
The Lord let his face shine upon us and be gracious to us!
The lord look upon us kindly and give us peace! Amen
You know, that prayer you mentioned is EXACTLY the same one my parents taught me to say every night as a child!! It troubled me too--not so much the thought that no one might want my soul, but the thought of dying in the night really scared me!
I like Wendy's version LOTS better!! It's so much more hopeful!
Also--NO WAY would no one want a soul as sweet as yours, Susan!!!! I firmly believe that you are one of God's very favorite people, and He most DEFINITELY would take you straight to heaven!!! So you DO NOT need to worry about that!!
Also--I know you're not a Catholic, but do you believe in angels? (I know there are angels in the Hebrew Bible!) There's a sweet little prayer that Catholic children are taught at night. Catholics believe that everyone has their own personal guardian angel--a special angel that God chose for each one of us at birth, to look after us and protect us all our lives.
Only since I was not brought up as a Catholic, I never learned it properly and for the life of me I cannot remember just how it goes--arrgghhh! But I will look it up and get back to you--I promise I'm not trying to "Catholicize" you lol, but you might find it comforting!
Lemme look it up and I'll be right back!!! (Oh, and thanks for the kind words--you're a sweetie, and I hope you and Holly thoroughly enjoyed the holiday!!)
Love,
Patti :-)
Okay, I'm back, and I found some goodies, I think! :-)
This is the Guardian Angel prayer:
"Angel of God, my Guardian dear
To whom God's love commits me here.
Ever this day be at my side
To light to guard, to rule, to guide. Amen."
I thought this next one was adorable (and why can't we adults use children's prayers??):
"I see the moon and the moon sees me; God bless the moon, and God bless me."
And another one:
"Lord, keep us safe this night, secure from all our fears.
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Til morning light appears."
This one is simple, but I like it:
"Father God, as I turn off the light, please be with me.
Help me to get to sleep, and please give me good dreams. Amen.
And this one:
"From all that dwells below the skies
Let faith and hope with joy arise:
Let beauty, truth, and good be sung,
Thru every land, by every tongue."
And Susan--believe it or not, I even found a special KITTEH PRAYER!!! Yes I did, and here it is, I love it already:
"Dear God, my kitten is so warm and snug.
Whether on the windowsill or the rug.
I love to watch her night and day,
And for her safety, Lord, I pray.
Thank you, God, for the warm snuggles of my kitten. Amen."
I hope some of these help! :-)
Love and hugs,
Patti
And of course special kitty kisses and huggles for my sweet Holly!!
@Wendy, i like your prayer much better. As of tonight, I will recite it.
Thank you!
@Patti- cat prayer too! You know Holly has a statue of Bast that was given to me for her predessor, and I let her have that. But we will say the cat prayer too.
And Patti- Wendy is also a cat person too. Her cat is very very beautiful.
Lately the cat has been sleeping on my head and licking my hair. I worry that she might smother me in my sleep, but I can think of worse ways to go. She might be trying to tell me to stop snoring!
When I had my oldest daughter my mother told me not to let the cat sleep with her because she would "suck the breath" out of her!!! I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants - I told Mom that the cat sleeps with me all the time and never has tried to suck the breath out of me!! Maybe Holly is onto something (Keep your mouth closed Susan - if anything happens we will know it was Holly!!)
Ha Ha Ha Ha
When I was at camp, we used to say grace before meals, and this is what we sang sometimes:
"The eagle thanks the Lord for the mountains, the fish thank the Lord for the sea, we thank the Lord for the goodness that we are about to receive."
I hope that's not too OT to post here.
Susan, I hope you and Holly are doing well!
Tailwags,
Littlewolf
reminds me of "enter sandman" by Metallica.
Mark, don't know that one, but I do know the old "Mr. Sandman" from the 50s.
My dad sang it to me during my babyhood.
I loved Wendy's version!
I saw it at movies now, after being old, and I really thought that it's not a good prayer before you sleeping.
We also have some scary things parents used to teach their children. The bright side of nobody noticing you exits when you're a child is that you are not told these scary stuffs.
Pray the Wendy way!
Love,
Ana
I, too, prefer Wendy's version. But my parents also taught me yours, Susan. Rockabye Baby also troubled me... who on earth would put a cradle on a tree top?????
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