Things That Go Bump in the Night...
Stop me if you’ve heard this one…
It’s 2am and a bloodcurdling scream pulls you from blissful slumber. Still half asleep, but heart pounding, you stumble out of bed, tripping over the laundry basket of unfolded clothes and stepping on a half toppled mega block tower along the way. Shoving your fist in your mouth to stifle the cries of agony – lest you wake your oblivious husband – you seek out the origin of the terrified wails…moving from room to room.
Sound familiar? This scene has recently turned into a nightly episode in my house.
Usually by this time I am awake, and as I enter my daughter’s room I find her sitting up in bed, eyes wide with terror, ready to let out another scream. I wake and attempt to comfort her while she explains, amidst choking sobs, who or what is evoking such fear.
Some of the culprits have been a giant who occasionally decides to spend the night in her closet, a strange puppy that apparently “spanks” her in her sleep, and a nasty gecko that she is CERTAIN is crawling up her leg. Oh, and let’s not forget Swiper the Fox. Even the tamed down villain of the Dora series has managed to ignite fear in my young daughter. I’ve had a hard time lately trying to convince her that these characters are not real. When I try to assure her of this she says, “but Mommy, I saw it!”.
In the end, all she usually wants me to do is, in an authoritative voice, rebuke these intruders and tell them to leave her room. The first time she said it, I had to work hard to stifle a giggle.
“Tell the Giant to go out of my room, Mommy!”
I did. And that’s pretty much all it took. She snuggled back under the covers and buried her smiling face into her pillow.
So I have made a habit of commanding the giant to leave her room each night when I put my daughter to bed. I have told her that we can tell him to leave in Jesus’ name, because He has promised to always be with us and to give us authority over all sorts of evil. I tell her that because of that wonderful promise we need not fear giants, spanking puppies or slimy geckos. Unfortunately, and perhaps because she is only two and a half, this truth has not yet inspired full confidence.
It makes me sad that she even understands such fears. I worked so diligently to keep her from too much television, stereotypical stories full of monsters, dragons and mystical creatures, and movies I have deemed inappropriate. I believed strongly in this…even to the point of keeping her vocabulary unsullied by the word “scary” for the first two years of her life. My motivation was to protect her sweet soul from things that could unnecessarily introduce the concept of fear into her young life.
In the end, it was a simple Bible story that started it all. While the courage and faith of David was an important lesson to learn, the intimidating stature of the Philistine Giant is what stuck with her after that evening’s devotions.
In hindsight, I realize that eventually all children are going to encounter things that cause fear in their little imaginations…and I am not naïve enough to think that I can keep her in the proverbial bubble…shielding her from all that can harm her, whether it be physically or emotionally. It’s just hard to watch unsullied youth come face to face with the harsh realities of a fallen world…a mother’s instinct to protect.
I remember having many fears as a young child. I was afraid of the older neighbor boys who rode my bus, had long hair and carried loud boom boxes on their shoulders. I was afraid of tornadoes and worried that someday I would have to fly on an airplane that was fated to crash into the ocean. Thunder and lightning caused me to lie awake fearfully at night, and the dark hallway between my bedroom and the bathroom was too ominous to travel without the companionship of my younger (and apparently braver) sister.
How my parents dealt with that fear is something that will stick with me forever. I remember being in the second grade, and before school one morning, my mom attaching a “Precious Moments” button to my shirt that read, “The Lord is my shepherd, I will not fear” (Psalm 23:1). I looked at that button all day long…and BELIEVED what it said! Later in life, I was so afraid of thunder, lightning and windstorms in the night…and I remember on many occasions, lying in my bed and reciting aloud a verse my dad taught me, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline”(2 Timothy 1:9).
This morning I read Deuteronomy 6:5ff: “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
I’m so thankful that in a fallen world, full of all kinds of scary things, my parents were wise enough to know and teach the antidote to fear. I hope my kids learn quickly that even spanking puppies, Philistine Giants and slimy geckos don’t stand a chance against the Word of God.
It’s 2am and a bloodcurdling scream pulls you from blissful slumber. Still half asleep, but heart pounding, you stumble out of bed, tripping over the laundry basket of unfolded clothes and stepping on a half toppled mega block tower along the way. Shoving your fist in your mouth to stifle the cries of agony – lest you wake your oblivious husband – you seek out the origin of the terrified wails…moving from room to room.
Sound familiar? This scene has recently turned into a nightly episode in my house.
Usually by this time I am awake, and as I enter my daughter’s room I find her sitting up in bed, eyes wide with terror, ready to let out another scream. I wake and attempt to comfort her while she explains, amidst choking sobs, who or what is evoking such fear.
Some of the culprits have been a giant who occasionally decides to spend the night in her closet, a strange puppy that apparently “spanks” her in her sleep, and a nasty gecko that she is CERTAIN is crawling up her leg. Oh, and let’s not forget Swiper the Fox. Even the tamed down villain of the Dora series has managed to ignite fear in my young daughter. I’ve had a hard time lately trying to convince her that these characters are not real. When I try to assure her of this she says, “but Mommy, I saw it!”.
In the end, all she usually wants me to do is, in an authoritative voice, rebuke these intruders and tell them to leave her room. The first time she said it, I had to work hard to stifle a giggle.
“Tell the Giant to go out of my room, Mommy!”
I did. And that’s pretty much all it took. She snuggled back under the covers and buried her smiling face into her pillow.
So I have made a habit of commanding the giant to leave her room each night when I put my daughter to bed. I have told her that we can tell him to leave in Jesus’ name, because He has promised to always be with us and to give us authority over all sorts of evil. I tell her that because of that wonderful promise we need not fear giants, spanking puppies or slimy geckos. Unfortunately, and perhaps because she is only two and a half, this truth has not yet inspired full confidence.
It makes me sad that she even understands such fears. I worked so diligently to keep her from too much television, stereotypical stories full of monsters, dragons and mystical creatures, and movies I have deemed inappropriate. I believed strongly in this…even to the point of keeping her vocabulary unsullied by the word “scary” for the first two years of her life. My motivation was to protect her sweet soul from things that could unnecessarily introduce the concept of fear into her young life.
In the end, it was a simple Bible story that started it all. While the courage and faith of David was an important lesson to learn, the intimidating stature of the Philistine Giant is what stuck with her after that evening’s devotions.
In hindsight, I realize that eventually all children are going to encounter things that cause fear in their little imaginations…and I am not naïve enough to think that I can keep her in the proverbial bubble…shielding her from all that can harm her, whether it be physically or emotionally. It’s just hard to watch unsullied youth come face to face with the harsh realities of a fallen world…a mother’s instinct to protect.
I remember having many fears as a young child. I was afraid of the older neighbor boys who rode my bus, had long hair and carried loud boom boxes on their shoulders. I was afraid of tornadoes and worried that someday I would have to fly on an airplane that was fated to crash into the ocean. Thunder and lightning caused me to lie awake fearfully at night, and the dark hallway between my bedroom and the bathroom was too ominous to travel without the companionship of my younger (and apparently braver) sister.
How my parents dealt with that fear is something that will stick with me forever. I remember being in the second grade, and before school one morning, my mom attaching a “Precious Moments” button to my shirt that read, “The Lord is my shepherd, I will not fear” (Psalm 23:1). I looked at that button all day long…and BELIEVED what it said! Later in life, I was so afraid of thunder, lightning and windstorms in the night…and I remember on many occasions, lying in my bed and reciting aloud a verse my dad taught me, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline”(2 Timothy 1:9).
This morning I read Deuteronomy 6:5ff: “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
I’m so thankful that in a fallen world, full of all kinds of scary things, my parents were wise enough to know and teach the antidote to fear. I hope my kids learn quickly that even spanking puppies, Philistine Giants and slimy geckos don’t stand a chance against the Word of God.
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