Short On Sleep?

Church planting (and pastoring) is a high demand, high stress job and sleep deprivation is a common problem for those in ministry. Like John Piper in the following quote featured on Zach Nielsen's blog, I am learning that my body can no longer accommodate my ongoing pattern of not getting enough sleep. I wonder how many conflicts, fits of depression, and wasted hours of distraction could have been avoided with adequate rest? A caution worth heeding...

” … I am emotionally less resilient when I lose sleep. There were early days when I could work without regard to sleep and feel energized and motivated. In more recent years my threshold for despondency is lower on less sleep. For me, adequate sleep is not just a matter of staying healthy. It’s a matter of staying in the ministry – I’m tempted to say it’s a matter of persevering as a Christian. I know it is irrational that my future should look so bleak when I get only four or five hours of sleep several nights in a row. But rational or irrational, that is a fact. And I must live within the limits of fact. Therefore we must watch the changes in our bodies.” (John Piper, When I Don't Desire God, 205)