You rarely wake up in the night but when you do it typically has something to do with a child standing silently over you in the dark. He didn’t wake you up, per say, but something changes in the atmosphere when your child approaches and it does what a passing car or the power of thunder and the sound of rain cannot. You roll in his direction and see the silhouette in shadow against the low light of the moon passing in from the window and you ask him what’s wrong.

He had a bad dream. He wants to sleep with you guys for a little bit.

He crawls over you and into his place in the middle of the bed and pulls the covers up to his nose. Sleep should come back quickly but it doesn’t; he tosses a little and everyone’s still awake and there’s something still hanging in the room. Something unfinished.

“Will you pray this bad dream away so I can go back to sleep?”

There it is. At once, you remember all the times you wondered if they were even paying attention during your prayer or if they thought you were crazy or if it had all just become routine. You put a hand on his head and do the work he’s asked you to do and he falls asleep within seconds.

My prayer is to stay diligent. To never grow weary of battling spiritually for my family. To run this race set before me, and run it well.

I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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