Last night, ~K~ woke up while we were watching a movie, and had a hard time settling back down. He got up several times after until my wife threatened him with no dessert tomorrow if he got up again.
He stayed in bed after that–for a while, but got up once again, announcing that he had thrown up. (He’s done that a couple of times, but I don’t know why.)
I remember as a kid going through a phase where I had a real hard time falling asleep. The longer it takes, the more anxiety you have that you’ll never fall asleep. As the panic wells up, the harder it is to fall asleep. Been there, done that. ~K~ seems to be doing the same thing. (Maybe the anxiousness caused him to have an upset stomach?)
Anyway, as my wife cleaned up in the bathroom, I followed ~K~ to his room to try to settle him down. I wanted to yell and threaten (because he was interrupting my movie), but instead a thought came to me:
“~K~, where do you think Jesus is?”
“I dunno.”
“Well let’s ask Him. Jesus, please show ~K~ where you are.”
I waited a few seconds, “Well, did you hear anything?”
“No.”
“Well why don’t you ask this time.”
“OK…Lord Jesus, please show me where You are.”
I waited again, “Do you see anything?”
“He’s in a grassy field chasing butterflies.”
“Great. Well why don’t you ask Him if you can join Him.”
“Ok.”
Pause…”Well what did he say?”
“He said sure.”
“Ok, so why don’t you join him.”
Pause…”What’s Jesus doing now?”
“He’s caught a butterfly and it’s sitting on His finger.”
“Cool!”
~K~ was noticibly more relaxed and after a few more minutes, I said good night and left quietly. ~K~ didn’t get up again. I was glad that I had not gone with my natural reaction to the situation and that I had gotten to share that precious moment.
Instead of an annoyance, it turned out to be an opportunity to minister. How many other annoyances are causing me to miss how Jesus sees the situation?
Not (quite) Balanced 