As you might imagine, bedtime at the Marble house is a rather sacred, protected time. We have established a pretty regular
routine of devotions, pajamas, last drinks, bathroom, prayers and lights out. For the most part, the kids are quite good about going to bed for which I am extremely thankful. After a long day, there is nothing sweeter than the peace and quiet that envelops the house once everyone has gone to bed.
However, one of our little charges was recently having some struggles settling down at bedtime. The more tired he got, the more hyper he became. Thanks to some great advice, we began giving him chewable melatonin before bed. Melatonin is a natural substance our bodies produce, but sometimes some people don’t produce enough, and it needs to be supplemented. For this little guy, the melatonin works wonders…
One particular night shortly after we began giving him melatonin, he and his brother were in their room talking away. It’s really quite amazing what conversations they have before falling asleep. They talk about heaven and hell – who is going each place and why. They talk about what Jesus said in a certain story. They recall some of their memorized Bible verses from Awana. They theorize what God would say about their messy room. I’m not quite sure why their discussions always turn toward God at night – but they do.
Anyways, on this night the little boys were talking away back and forth. Josiah was talking quite earnestly about something, and then asked Kia for his opinion. There was only silence from Kia. So Josiah asked the question again, only a little louder. More silence. The third time Josiah asked the question he was rather annoyed. “KIA! Answer me!” More silence.
As it turns out, the melatonin had done its job quite well, and Kia was already sound asleep. Eventually Josiah also fell asleep since he didn’t have anyone to talk to.
The little exchange between Kia and Josiah left John and I laughing. It was hysterical listening not only to their rich theological discussion, but also to Josiah’s exasperated attempts to get a sleeping Kia to respond. But that got me thinking…
I wonder how often God feels the same way Josiah did that night. He desperately tries to get our attention, to get us to listen, to get us to respond – and there’s only silence. I wonder how many God-moments we miss over the course of a single day, just because we’ve “fallen asleep” and have stopped looking for His hand in our lives. It might be the smile of a stranger, the kind word of a neighbor, the joy in a child’s face, a radio program that touches something in our heart, or even a blog post that challenges us. What if we intentionally lived even just one day, awake and aware of God-moments. What would we notice? What would we hear? What would we see? What would we be moved to do?
Are you awake, aware and looking for those God-moments? Are you building time into your day to sit quietly and listen to Him? Or have you fallen asleep? Is God left, like Josiah, saying, “Hello….hello?!?!”
