Children

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Vigilance

Because a little girl paid attention, a potential course of events was altered. Without her, the family game night might have ended in tragedy.


We gathered at Heather’s house, sisters and cousins and aunts, and a few uncles. Several of the relatives hadn’t seen each other in years. The house, built more than fifty years earlier and new to this young career gal, nestled in a hilly part of the city. My knees groaned at the prospect of climbing the steep steps winding to the front door. As Heather showed us around her little doll house, I noticed the door to the basement. Another long flight of stairs led down to chairs arranged and waiting for occupants. My joints declared that I would not be sharing games at the lower level, for sure!


Two little ones were part of the crowd. Evy, just shy of her second birthday, arrived sleeping in her daddy’s arms. Daniela (Dani) had celebrated her fifth birthday just days before. It wasn’t long before Evy, already in her “terrible twos,” was wide awake and into everything. Dani alerted Evy’s mom when the baby found the special box in the kittens’ play room. Mom carried her furious child away, explaining, “That isn’t a sand box. You cannot play in it!”


As the adults, packed into the living room, caught up on everyone’s current events, Dani continued to monitor Evy’s activities while they played together. Games became an after-thought for the rest of us. Family stories held the center of attention. Engaged in conversation and laughter, the mood suddenly changed with a sound of alarm from the kitchen.


“I need some help, here!”


Dani’s voice, raised in panic, brought the hostess and her sisters instantly to their feet. I didn’t get to see over their heads, but my imagination got the picture: Dani hanging on for dear life to the baby squirming to be free so she could make her way down those awful basement stairs to the concrete floor at the bottom.


Later, I called Dani to me, telling her I needed a hug. She came, a serene smile revealing the dimple in her cheek. “Now that you’re five,” I told her, “you are such a big girl. Thank you for watching Evy and taking such good care of her. It would have been terrible if she had fallen down those stairs. You were a guardian angel.”


Vigilance is a wonderful word. It sounds like a combination between keeping watch (vigil) and doing so with diligence. The dictionary definition reads: “the quality or state of being wakeful and alert : degree of wakefulness or responsiveness to stimuli.” The word reminds me of our life as Christians.


We are to be watchful, wise as serpents yet harmless as doves, responsible to sound the alarm to danger. When those in danger fail to heed our warnings, we have another avenue, that of prayer. Like little Dani, crying out for help in a situation beyond her abilities, we have the assurance that our Savior hears us when we pray. In that sense, we serve as God’s messengers, guardian angels, sent out into a world full of willful children, determined to have their own way, even in the face of dire consequences.


"But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:36)

(Copyright 2009) ---Edy T Johnson---

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