Nightlight | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Nightlight | Previous Challenge Entry
By Mary Lou Tiner
05/28/09
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NIGHTLIGHT

“Mommy, Mommy! Come here! I’m scared of the dark!” Heidi screamed at the top of her four-year-old lungs. She listened for the familiar clip, clip, clip of her Mommy’s high heels coming up the stairs.
“It’s ok, Heidi. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Here, I will turn on the hall light.” Sherry answered quietly, as she tucked the blankets up around her daughter’s brown, curly hair. “Now, it’s time to go to sleep.” With that, Sherry turned slowly and trudged wearily back down the stairs.
“Mommy!” came the cry once more, before Sherry was even halfway down. Sherry let out a long, laborious sigh and turned once more towards her daughter’s bedroom. Was this going to be another one of “those” nights? She had worked overtime at the office today, to make up for missing last week when Heidi was sick. Then, after picking up Heidi from daycare, she had to drag a tired, whiney four-year-old down the aisles of the grocery store to do some shopping. Finally, she had spent the rest of the evening trying to catch up on laundry and bills. Sherry felt like her own world was being immersed in shadows.
“It’s still dark in here, Mommy. The other light is too far away. I’m scared!” Heidi’s brown eyes shone wide open in the darkness, as she sat up on her bed. Sherry suddenly remembered one of her purchases from the grocery store. “Just a minute, honey. I think I have just what you need.”
Heidi giggled when she saw the smiling face that had been painted on the front of the nightlight her mommy had bought for her and when she plugged it in, Heidi gasped with delight to see the bright, smiley face reflected on the opposite wall. “I like that, Mommy! Now, when I feel afraid, I can look at that light and then I will be happy! Thank you, Mommy!”
Sherry plopped down at the top of the stairs, waiting to see if the nightlight really had done the trick. After a few minutes, Sherry heard the heavy breathing of her precious daughter and was relieved that Heidi was finally asleep. Slowly, like a gentle breeze, the thought came gently into Sherry’s heart: “I need a nightlight! I am afraid, so afraid of the dark.”
There, crumpled on the top of the stairs, Sherry began to weep. Years of betrayal by an unfaithful husband had caused bitterness and unforgiveness to cover her like a dark shroud. Fear of the future, fear of failure and fear of being rejected had left her feeling like a little girl, paralyzed by the dark.
“I feel so alone.” Sherry began to pray. “Your light seems so far away. I’m scared, Jesus. I can’t see anything but darkness.” She heard Heidi stirring for a moment and as she turned her head toward her daughter’s room, the glow of the nightlight caught her eye. It wasn’t a bright light, but it was enough light, sufficient to calm the fears of a four-year-old and more than enough to whisper “Peace, be still.” to the heart of a broken mother.
For the remainder of the evening, Sherry ignored the unwashed dishes and scattered toys. She sat curled up on the sofa with her Bible on her lap, allowing the Nightlight of God’s Word to shine into her weary soul. With a yellow marker she underlined Isaiah 42:16 “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”
The Nightlight wasn’t a bright light, but it was enough light. And the longer Sherry gazed at the Light of God’s Word, the more the shadows crept away and the more she imagined she saw God smiling back at her, reflected from the Nightlight.

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