Bad Dreams

Many a time I've been called in the night to come and comfort one of the kids after a bad dream. Usually, I hear what the dream is about, explain that it's just a dream and won't really happen, we pray, and after smoothing their hair and kissing their cheek I rush back to my pillow to try to catch another hour before little Eben wakes AGAIN. However, last night at 2 a.m. Adela broke the routine. She mumbled something about someone coming up the stairs and taking her. I assured her that she was safe, no one was coming up the stairs, and mommy and daddy were here to protect her. We prayed and I hurried back to bed, hoping I wasn't too awake to not fall back into oblivion immediately. Then 3 a.m. rolls around, and once again Adela is hollering in her monotone middle-of-the-night voice, "Moomm-mmmyy!Moomm-mmyyy!Mooommm-mmmyyy!" (I am convinced that this form of waking is almost equally as disturbing as the horrid alarm clock that buzzes from the bedside.) Once again, she had a bad dream of being taken. I listened groggily, and explained that no "bad guy" was going to take her. She corrected me that she wasn't afraid of a bad guy, but of a giant duck that came in and swooped her up, carrying her off from the family in it's menacing beak. To me, this was much less frightening and definitely less likely to happen, but to her it was terrifying. She ended up coming to my room, and sleeping peacefully the rest of the night knowing I was right there to fight off the winged-bandit should he pick the front door lock, climb up our creaky steps, and pluck her up from under her blanket.

As ridiculous as it appeared to me, it was a valid and very real concern for her. I wonder how ridiculous my "bad dreams" may sound? What kind of fears do I bring to God that are so unrealistic? How much worrying and fretting do I do that God looks at me, shaking His head, knowing that I am terrifying myself for nothing. I may obsess over something as Adela feared the duck burglar, but isn't it a relief that I can bring that concern to Him, knowing He'll hear me. I can turn it over to Him, rest in the comfort of His love, and know that He is right there to shelter me in His arms. May I demonstrate His patient and ever present love to my little ones even in the middle of another wakeful night!