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| Waiting for me to go to bed so they can party. |
Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ Mark 13:35-37 (NIV)
In my old age, I have become a sound sleeper. While some nights it takes me a while to get to sleep as I toss and turn thinking about my day or the one to come, generally I stay asleep until the alarm or the dogs wake me up. Sometimes, I even turn off the alarm clock so content to snuggle in the bed that I don’t care if I am late to work. The dogs are not as easy to ignore in the morning, but during the night, they are quiet as mice. And just as busy as mice. Because Sai is now a year old and Cory coming along behind him and because they are reliably house trained, they are now allowed to sleep outside their crates. Instead of being locked away in the kitchen, they sleep on our bedroom floor, Cory on my side of the bed and Sai usually behind the bedroom door. At least that is where they start. It is like they wait until they hear us both snoring before they start the midnight dog party. We find evidence of it when we get up in the morning. Sometimes, it is shreds of a toy or a dog bowl scattered under the dining table. Then, we know sometime decided to exercise their gums in the night. Most mornings, we find a pile of dirty laundry, carefully moved from our closet to a pile in the middle of the living room rug. It is the oddest thing. Nothing is chewed up, just piled neatly, carried one piece at a time across our bedroom, down the hall and into the living room. Sometimes, we find a warm place where someone spent the night on the couch. Recently, we have even awakened to find Sai in the bed with us. Yes, that little twenty-nine pound bugger can leap up on our bed without disturbing us and curls up between our feet at the foot of the bed. Occasionally, we find the bathroom trash rummaged through. Once, a bar of soap was consumed in the night. We figured it was Cory because her breath smelled like Zest. We had to put a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs because they were getting into things upstairs as well. It’s crazy to think that they can do all of this while we are unaware and slumbering. It makes me wonder what else we are missing. Not only while we are sleeping, but while we are unconsciously going on with our lives, eyes closed to the needs around us. I get so focused on my plans and my goals, that I walk right past opportunities to minister or share God’s love with someone. I want to be alert and ready to help whenever I can, but it requires me to be focused on God’s voice and not my to do list. I wonder if I miss as much when I am awake as I do when I am sleeping.
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