Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A mother's night vigil

Watching a sick child all through the night is not an easy task. it is physically and emotionally draining; you watch the child struggle with pain you cannot bear for him. Whenever he cries, your heart is wrenched; you wish you could wave a magic wand a
make it all go away but that doesn't happen. It is a process and every process must take it's course.
If you are anything like me, you fret a lot, pray a lot and think of all the peole you could call up in the middle of the night to tell about your baby's condition. But you don't call anyone, because anxious as you are, you know it is not the right thing to do.
I mean, why wake anyone up to tell them your child has chicken pox? What can they do for you at 2.a.m? It is a lonely vigil that only the mother of a sick child understands. It is also a time of reflection.
While the world sleeps and you agonise over your baby's pain, you ask yourself; is this how God feels about me? Does He feel my pain? Is He awake because of me?
The Holy Bible tells us that "He neither sleeps nor slumbers". Also that "He is mindful" of us.
How comforting to know that just like a mother watching her son struggle through the deep and dark night, God is watching us struggle through this deep and dark world. And like the mother who will do anything to make her child better, He has done everything to make us better; the difference is that while are efforts are hardly adequate, His are more than enough...........shalom