By: Cassia Glass - Houston, Texas
“Sleeping through the night” is a milestone for most moms of infants. Let me rephrase that, ANY sleep that involves more than 5 hours without interruption is bliss! And then you begin to take it for granted that every night will be blissful, until, of course, teething or earache or toddler “scawy dweams” make their appearances. Ahhh, such is the life of a mom! As a mother of older kids (11 and 8), I find most nights do go by fairly peacefully now, but we seem to go through seasons of sleep issues a few times a year, especially trouble going to sleep from worry or falling back asleep after a nightmare.
Between 8 and 10 years old I think the brain must kick in with a heightened awareness of scary stuff out there in the world, a sense of anxiety over something happening to self or to loved ones, and just a general brain-busyness that’s hard to shut down at night. (Incidentally, I’ve found that this is also a time when kids are becoming very receptive to spiritual things, as well, so perhaps it’s not only the brain that has a new awakening.) I noticed at about 9 that my son became more aware of when my husband had to work late or go out of town, and he still tends to worry more when Dad’s gone. Dreams are more vivid as the kids hash through the day’s events or the changes around them, and even seemingly innocuous books or movies can shake them up when things get dark and quiet. We go through times of Midnight Visitors, and times when 10 p.m. comes and goes and small people are still awake.
In addition to things like leaving a light on, playing soft music or allowing kids to read a book (gentle and not too adventurous), during one particularly trying time, I also printed out some scriptures on sleep to read at bedtime. I recently saw these in a file and thought I’d share them with you. As much as I’d like to say that these verses were spectacularly successful and fixed our sleep issues, my son actually wasn’t super keen on me reading them to him at the time. I felt like some old school marm with my pat little solution that really wasn’t having much of an impact. That’s where things got interesting, though. Somehow this little sheet of verses from Mom challenged my son to pick up his Bible and begin reading through the Psalms himself during this particularly sleepless time. Here were the verses I gave him—I loved these for myself, too!—and then, I’ve included a funny post-script to the story:
Psalm 139:7-12 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in the depths, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Proverbs 3:21-24 My son, do not lose sight of these-- keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Proverbs 6:20-22 My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. 22When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.
This last verse is the one that makes me smile. My kiddo told me he read the entire Psalm 3 in his Bible and then told me he had a new favorite verse. I thought, “Oh how nice, the verse on sleep really impacted him!” (Congratulatory pat on my own back). But when I asked him which one, he grinned at me sideways and said, “Verse 7 where it says, “Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked!” Turns out the class bully had been more of a disturber of his days (and sleep) than I knew, but in finding that verse, he realized Who was on his side to fight his battles. So if there is some kind of moral to this story of sleepless nights, it’s this: God’s word really is powerful but sometimes our kids have to go read it for themselves and let the Holy Spirit bring to light the areas where they need light and life. That’s something to sleep on!
