Nowadays I read posts on Facebook from ever so many new moms, bemoaning the fact that their newborn is awake all night, fussing, nursing, peeing, and pooping. Or moms of toddlers, posting horror stories of wee ones that have:
A. Fussed and cried all night
B. Wouldn't stay in bed
C. Crawled out of bed while the household was sleeping and created havoc with markers, crayons, lipstick .....
And the ever popular option ..
D. ALL OF THE ABOVE!
NEWSFLASH!!! That's simply babies acting like babies! They have needs they can't articulate. Legit needs. Non- legit needs, selfish to be sure, but to a baby every whim, each and every need, should be met immediately. Like NOW! (Insert screaming-at-the-top-of-the-lung type of infantile noise here)
The babies and toddlers eventually settle down and will sleep, leaving a small window of opportunity for the momma to catch a few winks .... Until the next time! It is a fact of life, a rite of passage, that most young mothers will lose a lot of sleep as they care for their little ones. Sleep, once lost, is gone forever. There's no such thing as " catching up on sleep" - as though your storage chamber of zzzzzzz's can ever be refilled . Nope. It's gone!
Those nights of little ones that fall asleep in my arms with dreamy milk-fed smiles are now over for me. I may look back and wish I had been more patient, better organized, and more appreciative when my children were young - but - I now hold those memories of soothing little fussy ones as very precious indeed.
Those were actually the EASY days .... And nights!
Now that my children are grown the cries that awaken me are from my own heart and that mother-child connection. Like a voice that whispers at the side of the bed, "Mom" .....and suddenly the sounds & sights of NEED are flashed into my heart & mind.
Oh! It's the Holy Spirit calling me to prayer! Its time to pray for one of my loved ones! But - what is wrong?? i dont know - quite often THEY dont even know! But there is an unspoken need & the Holy Spirit is all over it!
I slip out of bed, grab my robe & some warm socks ... Put on the tea kettle ... Open my Bible .... And without even knowing the problem, I can call upon the Healer, the Restorer of my soul, the Righteous Judge of all the earth. I can pray over my children - and grandchildren - even when they are far from me.
Sleep? Somehow I don't really mind losing sleep tonight. This feels even better!
