Breakfast Casserole

Welcome to common-woman! The busy fall season has started. Getting enough sleep, serving nutritious meals, and hanging on to a calm spirit can be a challenge. Here’s a recipe for a breakfast casserole, a childhood prayer, and a beautiful blessing. 

First, here’s a recipe for a yummy breakfast casserole to be made before you go to bed, then baked in the morning for about an hour.  Preplan to ease away the tension on a busy weekend morning.

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Back to the night before:

Good for you putting together the casserole! Now, be kind to yourself. Make yourself a cup of tea, hot chocolate or another favorite beverage. Sit down. Take a few minutes to read this short blessing by John O’Donohue, found in his book To Bless the Space Between Us – page 99. Sip your beverage while you read.  Then close your eyes and think of 10 things you are thankful for.

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Before Sleep  

As I lay down to sleep, 

May the guardian angel

Watch over me,

Coaxing all my cares

To unravel into peace.

As darkness within 

Is wed to darkness without,

Freed from the weight of light,

Let my eyes sleep, Relieved of all intensities.

Let my imagination

Trawl the compressed seas

To bless the dawn

With a generous catch

Of luminous dreams.

May this new night of rest

Repair the wear of time

And restore youth of heart

For the adventure

That awaits tomorrow.        

--John O’Donohue 

Now, if time allows, a bubble bath with your favorite candles burning could be lovely. (If this is not the right time, make a mental rain check for yourself to schedule a yummy, relaxing bubble bath soon!) 

Last, here’s a little prayer from childhood I learned from my great-grandpa John.

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.

If I should live for other days,

Then stay beside me, all the way. 

I still say this prayer the last thing at night, before I go to sleep. 

Stay strong and courageous, friend. Take good care of yourself. Sleep well.

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs  3:24, NIV