An all too familiar sound punctuated the otherwise stillness of the night. My bedside clock said it was 1:30 in the morning.
I knew immediately that it was the sound of a child screaming. However, through the hypnotic whir of my fan I was not immediately able to discern which of my two girls it was.
Now parenting wisdom would dictate that I would immediately get up to determine which child was in distress and then perform the required actions to ensure that the crisis was averted.
But I was in the middle of a game that I could not afford to lose. And my opponent is good.
The game is this: when a kid cries out in the night, do not, under any circumstances, move. Don’t flinch, don’t roll over, don’t lift your head, don’t yawn, and DO NOT open your eyes.
If you are the first to commit any of these transgressions then you will have to get up and tend to the kids.
The object is to hold out until your spouse gets up.
Tracy knows this game and she plays it well.
I’m no slouch either.
Well, last night we were both in fine form.
Then, something strange happened: I heard a door open and close.
Chloe must be coming to get in bed with us again. Or so I thought.
I looked up (I know, I lost) to confirm that this was what was happening.
It was Cassie!!
Our 21 month old had crawled out of her crib, opened her door, closed it behind her and made her way into our room.
Did I mention that she is 21 months old?
It is way too soon for this.
She crawled in bed with us. Not good.
We are fighting this battle with Chloe. We can’t afford to do it with Cassie too.
Here are our options:
1) Keep putting her back in the crib and hope that she will quit crawling out and go back to sleep.
2) Put her in a toddler bed
3) Duct Tape her to her crib so she can’t crawl out. (Disclaimer: this is just a poor attempt at humor. I would never do this. Please don’t report me)
4) Buy her a crib tent.

Needless to say, we have to go buy a crib tent today.

The good thing is that Cassie knew exactly where to go.
She could have gone wandering through the house.
She could have gone and woken up Chloe.
She could have hurt herself.
She could have gone and terrorized the cat.
But she didn’t.
She came to her father. She knew how to reclaim the safety that she had left behind when she left the protection of her crib.
She knew that I would take care of her.

We aren’t any different.
We have all found ourselves outside of the safety of our innocence.
We have sinned and grown older.
We have wandered from our Protection.
Do we know where to go?
Do we wander off by ourself trying to find our own way?
Do we wake up others and drag them into our plight?
Do we make matters worse by blindly staggering off into the night?
Do we harm others by our refusal to seek shelter?
Or do we turn to the Father?
In the dark night of your soul, where do you turn?
He is waiting. All you have to do is enter in and He will shelter you.
Turn to Him, sleepy child. He will be your rest.