Animal Blinkies

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

ELEVATE, and Concentrate

Read, slowly---
As I mentioned in the previous post--
I have cut and pasted the following:


ELEVATE: August 11th 2008~
Periodically Jon Alex goes through bouts of sleeplessness. When that happens he not only has a hard time going to sleep, but he struggles to even stay asleep. All throughout the night he has to sit up in his bed and do what is called "vocal stimming." For those of you who don't know what "stimming" is, let me explain it this way.

He has to bounce, jump, and move constantly while making noises at the top of his lungs. Sometimes it's for just a few minutes, often times though it's all through the night. It can get so frustrating, so exhausting, and make the nights oh so long.

Becky and I typically work in shifts when this happens. I'll take the bedtime to 2:00 am shift and she takes the 2:00 am to dawn shift.

A funny thing happens though when you go to his room in the middle of the night. Being non-verbal he can't talk of course, but he breaks into this toothy grin and smiles as if to say,"Hey you can't sleep either? Spend some time with me since you're up anyway!"

I have tried explaining the concept of "the middle of the night" to him over and over but I don't think it's seeping in yet.

The other day, sometime around 4:00 am I was in his room swinging him in his platform swing.

He was laughing and playing.
I was muttering and complaining.

That's when the revelation hit me like a 2X4 to the side of my head.

How many dads would love for their son to want to spend time with them at any hour of the day? How many dads would gladly get up at 4 am to spend time with their son if it brought joy and happiness to their son?

That thought led to the 2X4 that then hit the other side of my head.

Imagine how God would feel if I got up in the middle of the night or early in the morning because I wanted to hang out with Him? Imagine His smile if I just needed to spend some time with Him in the night- just the two of us talking.

There would be joy and exhilaration from Him. Not muttering and complaining.

You know the Bible actually says He doesn't slumber, nor does He sleep. Maybe that's where Jon Alex gets it.

The next time I'm up with Jon Alex in the night, I think we'll spend some time talking to God. He's up anyway.

Just the three of us. I think they would both like that.

--Jeff Davidson

© 2008 Jeff Davidson

This devotional can be freely distributed. All subscriptions are free and you can subscribe or unsubscribe through www.risingaboveministries.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is from my friend Jim,
who is always passing emails on to me that are about HIS WORD--


Concentrate on this Sentence

"To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did." When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... "The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you." Something good will happen to you today; something that you have been waiting to hear.

Anyway.... I thought these needed a bigger audience-
- Hopefully Blogland will help with that?!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I sent the same quote on from Jim. I have had an amazing response from people! I personally have it posted on my refrigerator now! And...I'll try to remember that God is always waiting with a smile for me to talk to him at all hours of the day or night. Made me cry to read that one! Beautiful! Hope camping was fun! Love you Stace!