Midnight Moments

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”    Phil. 4: 6-7

Alright, I might as well surrender, sleep is out of the question and I must as quietly as I can, leave the bedroom.  I will seek solace for my overactive head with what I can find in the livingroom.  I mull over the choices and dismiss the Bible quickly after realizing that my preoccupied state need not be stimulated.  Glazed interpretations of the Bible at 4:00 a.m., would be just what the doctor ordered for a true night in the land of insomnia.  Mary and I have been using ‘Secret Strength’  written by Joni Eareckson Tada, as a Bible study.  I have found it fairly light, and open it randomly.  It falls open at ‘Medicine for Midnight Moments’.

This chapter refers to allowing trust in God’s Sovereignty.  Ms. Tada is a hands-on-the-hip, simple true believer.  I’m not convinced of her logic, but it has a humor and genuine style which is just right for that precarious hour.  She quotes C.S. Lewis (always a favorite of mine) describing those ‘Mad Midnight Moments’.  A very pleasant read in all, and suddenly my first wave of ‘tired’ is too long.  I cannot say that sleep followed immediately, but I can say it came surprisingly quickly.

Did the Holy Spirit intervene and allow the book to open at a certain page?  Was I so affected by the experience as to then want sleep?  I don’t know the process, I doubt very much anyone does.  What I believe I experienced was the recognition of the small miraculous events surrounding us every day.  Think about this when the next narrow miss enters your life.  Will you pass it off as luck, fate, or coincidence?

I have never believed in coincidence, it always seemed too convenient.  It appeared to me to be we simpletons passing off the miraculous as an odd occurrence.  I think the Buddhists have it right when they say “You will see it when you believe it, not the other way around”.  It seems we wait for water to turn into wine before we ‘see it’.

I believe that a small read of the right chapter of my Bible study, and a small prayer asking God to help me quiet my mind, allowed me more sleep.  This was a small, quiet, miracle, but none the less, a miracle. ♦             Ted Thompson

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