Prevailing Purpose

Since our second son was born a portion of my evening has naturally been dedicated to his bedtime routine. His routine is much more quiet and calm than our five year old’s, which includes singing silly songs, reading books, and wiggling right up until the moment of sleep. It is no less sweet, but certainly more lively.

For my infant, his evenings include the calmer actions of his final feed, rocking, and cuddling, and it has been in these quieter hours that I have found encouragement and conviction. During the day I am able to keep myself very distracted. A full work schedule, two busy children, and never ending piles of laundry call out to me every free moment. But for a few minutes every evening I am forced to sit down, not so I can do more work or catch up on a TV show, but to quietly comfort and calm my son.

It has been here that the Lord draws me most often to prayer and worship. Without distraction I am forced to reflect on my day. The small moments of victory, my failures, the mundane. I consider my family. The conversations had with my husband, the care of my children. And in each I am reminded of my need for the Lord.

Here too, in the physical act of laying my son in his crib, I am reminded of the necessary act of entrusting my children to God. My job is not to cling to them, claiming them as my subjects in my own little kingdom. But to recognize them as gifts, shepherding them in a way that points them back to the Lord and encourages them to join me as a fellow subject in the Heavenly Kingdom.

For these reasons and for the bonding time that I have with my son, I have come to cherish this time of day. The forced moments of stillness and quiet in our lives are not problems to be solved, but opportunities for reflection and connection to our Lord and a reorienting ourselves to him. May we learn to embrace the quiet.

Find part two in the series In Reflection of Bedtime here.

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