Power Naps

On CNN the other night, I saw a segment showcasing a new entrepreneurial effort offering people in busy NYC offices bed to “power nap” for 20 minutes…at a price of almost $15 per brief repose.  They office in high rises where people can rush in at lunch, or even on a break, pay their rather absurd fee, and lay (or is it lie) down on a bed and slumber to the sound of ocean waves.  Actually it sounds pretty cool to me (except the high pricetag).  I’m a big advocate of power naps and a firm believer that such mini-snoozes can revive a soul! (When I used to work at GTE back before coming to the mission field, I’d spend the majority of my lunch hour sleeping!)  I remember being a part of a focus group at GTE studying ways of building morale, and I had the audacity to suggest such “power naps” as a brainstorm, only to get laughed at (don’t they know the rules of brainstorming…therapy helped me get over that).
 
Well, the Lord in his sovereign humor, called me to serve him for a few years in a country, not unlike many cultures worldwide, where a 2-hour (not just 20 minutes) nap in the heat of the day is not just accepted, but encouraged!  Stores close down and you can roam the streets and see people laying out on car hoods, on straw mats under a mango tree, or even on nothing by the “cool” concrete under an overhang of someone’s rooftop.  It’s so awesome.  I’ve experienced a lot of culture shock and there are honestly things about this African culture that I will NEVER understand and likely NEVER appreciate, but the “sieste” (French) is one thing I’ve come to love!
 
I do wonder someday whenever my family returns to the U.S…..will I still get to have my naptime?  Maybe I’ll just start up my own “power nap” company and show ‘em how it’s done (what would I charge for a 2-hour nap?) 
 
Missionary Rockin’ Randall  -  4th and Final Blog of the Day (so busy blogging that I forgot my nap!)