Lately, my little ones have needed extra reassurance and comforting. Bad dreams about spiders have been plaguing my just-turned-three year old, poor girl. Never mind that during the day she merrily digs in the mole hills throughout our yard, unearthing tons of bugs that don’t faze her a bit. It’s the age, I’ve learned, at which little ones develop fears of shadows, monsters, bugs, and even, one of my mom friends told me, dolphins. Yes, her poor little boy had a nightmare about a dolphin eating his blankie!
And my four year old had anxieties of her own. Day after day these last weeks she has listened to my increasingly irate phone calls to our cell phone company since our Internet stopped working. (One of the reasons my posts have been infrequent!) The other night, I was tucking her into bed, and she looked suddenly serious. Clutching her bedraggled bunny and “the gang” (little plush dolls of Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and Fred), she asked me a question that I could tell had been bothering her for some time. “Mom, are we going to have to switch to Verizon?”
I would have laughed except her expression was so grave. “Yes, sweetie, probably, but don’t worry about it. We will get the Internet fixed.” Tears formed in her blue eyes. “Oh, sweetie, what’s the matter?” I asked her.
She fought back the tears and answered, her voice wavering, “Can I at least take my stuffies when we go to Verizon?”
“Oh, sweetheart! We are not moving. Do not worry. We absolutely, positively, are staying in this house.”
Her sigh of relief could have been heard at the farm next door.
With both of my girls, my words of comfort, my hugs, and even simply my presence can provide all the reassurance they need. Mom can fix waking up scared from a dream. Mom can put everything right when the world seems upside down. This is the way it works when your little ones are, well, little.
I know that the days are coming when my children will face big transitions, and suffer sleepless nights for reasons more serious than a bug invasion or a blankie-eating dolphin. And I won’t always be there to comfort them. The really bad day their freshman year of high school. Their first night away at college. The time they need to rush their own little one to the hospital. Growing up and growing older will bring anxieties and concerns that I won’t be able to fix.
But I will have taught them where to find comfort, reassurance and peace. They have a Father who is able to be with them at every moment, so they can know that they’re never alone. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
A Father who speaks powerful words of comfort, so they can rest easy. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles (2 Corinthians 3-4)
A Father who will work any circumstance for their good, so they can have true peace. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
In trusting that they will always remain under the perfect care of their perfect Father, I can rest easy, too.
