AWAKE!

So it is now 5AM and I have been awake since approximately 2:30AM.  I lie in bed and my mind starts wandering to this thing and that.  I wish I could put it, i.e., my mind, to sleep so I can be rejuvenated in the morning when most normal people are getting up and moving.  But, there is always so much to think about.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Typically I think about some deep issues such as love, relationships, the meaning of life, the truth about an Almighty Being, Eternity, etc, etc.  Then I think about everyday things - "my to do list" - deciding what should be done first and the most effective means to get the job done.   I think about the people I haven't called in awhile, the people I miss seeing and/or talking to.  I think about
deciding what to pack for Mike and Shelby's wedding;
what to include and how to organize the slide presentation for the Friends of Fontaine Annual dinner on Oct. 18th.    I think about people from my past - people who helped form me into the person I am now - good parts and bad.  I remember lessons I learned that never left me; for example when I was 17 years old I went to speak to our pastor at St. Michael's Church in East New York, Brooklyn, Father Owen Shelley.  I was in my first "serious" relationship with a guy named Jerry and I was beginning to see things weren't going to work out for us.   I remember that Father Owen said that as difficult as it would be for me to change and become like him, that was how difficult it would be for him to change and become like me.   That bit of advice has stayed with me throughout my life.  It is a very powerful statement and I have thought of it and returned to it in many circumstances throughout my life.  Change does not come easy for anyone.  When we are strong in a belief and it has been ingrained over many years, it takes a huge amount of desire and then effort to change - even a tiny little change.
Another lesson I learned by experience, is that love is profound and unconditional love is nothing short of a miracle so when a person really loves you, you are changed forever by that love.  It leaves me with a great sense of gratitude. 
It is now 5:22AM and I will attempt to go back to sleep for a little while.  Lucky for me I am retired and I have no appointments this morning.