Zzzzzzzzzz…

     It's 10:30pm. I'm in my son's room…again. I love this kid. He should have been asleep 2 hours ago. He brings so much joy into my life. But it's time for bed. He's scared. I'm not sure of what. I ask him what he's afraid of but as he fights back tears and sniffles his response is "umm…ummm…ummm…ummm…I don't know." I did this to him. I recognize the error of my ways. He's my first born child. I let him sleep in our room; I showed him cartoons that are probably a bit scary for a 3 year old. I introduced him to Zorro at 2 years old…and dressed up like Zorro one night to brush his teeth…he was speechless. Now he thinks Zorro is outside his room waiting for him. Bedtime has become quite the chore for our son and mommy and daddy. But we're working through this. We're teaching him to be brave in Christ. Granted I recognize all the theological inaccuracies with that statement as he's 3 years old and he's not a Christian. But we're communicating in that terminology in prayer that one day he will be in Christ. We remind him that its daddy and mommy's joy to protect him and that we've put things in place to keep him safe. We've made his room fun for a little boy. We're doing what we can to work through this growing process. He'll be alright in the long run. It's going to take time for him to feel comfortable being apart from daddy and mommy at nighttime. But in spite of all the things we do for him and with him, it's all in vain if we don't catapult prayer to the top of the list. We pray with him every night before bed. We pray that he'll feel safe, and that he'll sleep soundly. But the second we go to leave the room after prayer time, his waterworks and quivering lip start up. So, again, it's going to take time. I'm not here to open discussion about the latest parenting technique for getting your child to sleep alone. We'll save that for another time because I'm always open to ideas. But I do want to convey something I read today that isn't necessarily about a sleeping child, but about the importance of prayer in parenting. Again, this is from "A Praying Life" By Paul Miller.

"It is surprising how seldom books on parenting talk about prayer. We instinctively believe that if we have the right biblical principles and apply them consistently, our kids will turn our right. But that didn't work for God in the Garden of Eden. Perfect environment. Perfect relationships. And still God's two children went bad. Many parent's, including myself, are initially confident we can change our child. We don't surrender to our child's will (which is good), but we try to dominate the child with our own (which is bad). Without realizing it, we become demanding. We are driven by the hope of real change, but the change occurs because we make the right moves. Until we become convinced we can't change our child's heart, we will not take prayer seriously. Consequently, repentance is often missing. When we see, for example, our son's self-will, we usually don't ask, How am I self-willed? Or how am I angry? We want God's help so we can dominate our son. We forgot that God is not a genie but a person who wants to shape us in the image of his Son as much as he wants to answer our prayers." (A Praying Life, 168-170)

     I challenge you to pray for your children often! Not just at dinner time, or bedtime, but often throughout the day. Pray short, quick, direct prayers that sometimes seem insignificant but truly are not. Pray that God would have mercy on them as sinners, pray that they would be obedient, pray that they would be progressively sanctified, pray that they would play hard, pray that they would develop a good work ethic, pray that they would not develop a prideful heart like the Corinthians, pray that they would be brave in all things through Christ, pray that they would recognize James 1:17, and pray that they would live out 1 Corinthians 10:31...you get the idea. I need to help my son go to sleep at night, for the sake of him and for the sake of my wife and I. I need to love him by putting things in place to help him like a 'Toy Story' night light, or a stuffed animal or fun decor that he helped choose, I need to be consistent and patient, I need to communicate with words to him about Godly fear. But above all, I need to pray for him. Pray for your children. God is glorified when you do.