Tom & the work of God

Many times over the last five years, especially with the arrival of each of my three children, I am amazed at how God, in her infinite wisdom, placed the right children in our family. My sweet Thomas, the most loving boy in the world, is also a little worrier, just as I am. I've spent hours and hours of my life worrying myself into frantic episodes of insomnia. As a child, I would become so upset when I couldn't sleep that my mom employed all sorts of devices to soothe me and calm me down. I am sorry to say that Thomas has experienced a few of these episodes lately. Thankfully, with my lifetime of knowledge on this subject, we've been able to work through things pretty well. My poor boy -- I know how awful he feels at these 2 o'clock in the morning moments when the night seems endless and threatening.

One thing that I've discovered, through the blessing of our particular brand of faith, is that Thomas adores the constancy and predictability of the liturgy. Saying the same prayers and singing the same songs help him in ways that I also remember from my childhood. (My mom singing Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" is an early memory and one that can still lower my blood pressure. Odd, I know. But it is my mom's voice, not Debby's, that helped).

A few months ago, standing in the Eden Seminary bookstore, I made an impulse purchase -- a gorgeous kid's book titled Sleep in Peace, written by Ingrid Hess. The book is published by the wonderful Mennonite Publisher, Herald Press.

An example of the text:
When the songs you've sung
fill the evening sky
with the melody
of a lullaby

and when bedtime stories
have all been read,
when memories swirl inside your head

God loves you, sweet child. Sleep in peace.

The proper execution of the liturgy goes like this:
1) I read the verse
2) Thomas chants the refrain

1) I read the verse
2) Thomas chants the refrain

The upshot of this... when Thomas becomes anxious about something, I can say, "God loves you, sweet child" and he replies, "Sleep in peace" with the seriousness of a little cantor with a slightly lisping, lilting voice. The purpose of liturgy, some say, is to both glorify God and to equip Christians for carrying out Christ's mission in the world. Essentially, liturgy should transform us through the knowledge of God's presence with us.

As I see my child, God's precious child, enter into peaceful, restful sleep precisely because he knows that God is with him, I am filled with wonder and thanksgiving. Sleep in peace.