Here’s to the Night-Shifters!

Shift work – it can be a killer.

Going to work in the evening, getting off in the morning. Days and nights can quickly become relative terms to those accustomed to nocturnal careers.

My sister, Carrie, is a night shift nurse right now thanks to COVID. She has been working 12 hour exhausting night shifts for several months in a nursing and rehab facility. We all know COVID has hit nursing homes hard – the residents and employees. Carrie put her own health at risk caring for patients on the COVID unit and in fact, contracted COVID herself. This was particularly dangerous for her as she has asthma and is a heart-attack survivor.

We should be applauding all nurses and healthcare providers right now – especially those pulling the night shift!

Who else works the night shift? Just to name a few: law enforcement, nurses/doctors, EMA, shift work in all kinds of plants, truckers, firefighters, and food service workers.

Oh, we cannot forget the mama who does not get paid, but nonetheless, is up at all hours of the night tending to the baby who is colicky or has nights and days mixed up. Bless her!

Or maybe you are an unwilling night shifter because you cannot sleep. You wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and cannot go back to sleep.

Do you know who else worked the night shift?

The night shift shepherds, who were the first to receive the good news of Jesus’s birth. I think Linus said it best:

*The actual scripture from Luke 2 to Linus’ speech is at the end of this post.

God chose some of the most unexpected people to be the first to hear of the most glorious news – shepherds working the night shift. Can you imagine their faces when the angel appeared and announced the Savior of the world had been born? They dropped everything and made a bee-line to Bethlehem to see this glorious sight.

The night shift. Some may dread it. Some may dream of the day when they no longer have to draw the curtains to keep the sun out of their eyes while they sleep. They may grow tired of shushing everyone in the house so they can get some sleep during the day while everyone else is going about their business.

But I guarantee you, those night shift shepherds were never the same. They received one of the greatest honors of all – receiving the Good News first and experiencing a worship service right there in the middle of the field with an angelic heavenly host.

So keep your eyes and hearts open night shifters! God may reveal something to you in the middle of your shift.

Maybe He will speak to you about that problem you can’t see a way around. Maybe you just need to talk to Him in silent prayers in the middle of the night. Or maybe you need to put your trust in the Savior that was revealed to the shepherds that night so long ago.

For the unwilling night shifters who just can’t sleep…is God trying to speak to you about something? Instead of turning on the TV or scrolling social media or counting sheep, talk to the Great Shepherd in the stillness of the night. Remember what David wrote in Psalm 4:8:

In peace I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.

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⁸ In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Luke 2:8-14