While Your Little One Sleeps

My wife and I don't plan on offering anyone parenting advice unless they ask.

But there is one thing we will say, if we're ever asked:

We will tell new parents how much it has meant to us for our children to go to sleep while we are still awake, how much God has blessed us during the hours we have spent awake while our children are sleeping, how we have pondered them, talked about them, treasured them, prayed for them, rested in the quiet, and yes, how we have gotten chores and projects done in the extra time, but how that has never been what we have remembered about this special time, how it has really been about the awe we have experienced, the honor we have felt at the privilege of being trusted with providing these little ones (not so little anymore, but it feels the same) with the safety and provision, comfort and peace it takes to fall asleep and rest well, how it has been about how humbled we feel that this privilege would be ours, this, the slightest little peek into the Father's perspective on His creation, the feeling of having someone trust you so much that they are willing to receive the place of rest you have provided them, be warmed with the covers you chose for them, be comforted by your kiss, be enveloped in your prayers, and then release their consciousness in the blind trust that you will never leave them alone, that you will be there to welcome them when they awake to a new day, with yesterday's blunders behind them, so much more to learn.

Oh, this fragile moment!

Grasp it, parents!

Like your own life, it is a vapor that vanishes so fast. How easily it could be lost forever, this moment. How easily the trust needed for this moment to flourish could be destroyed, and how differently we might behave if we were to picture this moment at drop-off for school, at midday, upon our return home from work, at the dinner table, during evening time...all the time.

Be in awe that your Creator lets you see what it is like to be Him, to provide all for someone who depends on you completely, without any shame, and without any promise to appreciate it or even love you in return.

Be in awe that your Creator, the Infinite Giver, who watches over you while you sleep, gives you these moments to watch over your babies while they sleep, no matter how old those babies have grown, no matter how grown they think they are.

Savor the privilege of providing your child's place of rest, your son or daughter's safe time to sleep.

And in your savoring, ask yourself whether you savor the rest your Father provides to you.

Not giving advice, but I wouldn't be surprised if He also savors the moments when you trust Him enough to leave everything in His hands and go to sleep.