"Daddy, did Abba (Eden's name for G-d) make me afraid of the dark?"
Eden was crying when she asked me this late one night. Katie and I had decided to move Avery's bed out of Eden's room and into Ari's in order to help him sleep. Interestingly, the darkness wasn't an issue until she thought she was alone in it. Suddenly, clothes awkwardly hanging in the closet transformed into the Boogeyman. Oddly shaped objects under the bed morphed into creatures from the underworld. Needless to say, Eden was not supportive of the choice. (We did eventually move Avery back the next night!)
I was doing my best to calm Eden's little frightened spirit that night, but her question forced me to pause and ask myself, "How do I know that G-d didn't make us afraid of the dark?"
Not long after that conversation with Eden I watched a teacher talk about resting. Resting from running from event to event. Resting from worrying. Resting from a life of scurrying about like a chicken with my head cut off. His words were speaking to me on many levels, but when he used a verse out of Genesis, one I had read many times before, as a basis for his point I got the answer to my question, "How do I know Abba didn't make us afraid of the dark?"
Here it is, "G-d called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. So there was evening, and there was morning, one day."
Would G-d create something and then cause me, Eden, or any of His children to then fear that which He created? How can that be His heart for his children? I knew it was not. I did say something to this effect to Eden on the night she asked me, but I didn't have Genesis 1:5 in mind when I reassured her that G-d would never create anything with the purpose of scaring her. Somehow I felt more empowered in that truth after reading Genesis 1:5. That was cool.
Did you notice what came first in the one day? Light or darkness? Our days never begin with the dawn. Each one begins just after dusk. What's really intriguing to me about this verse is that both Night and Day are capitalized in the Jewish interpretation of this text; they're personified! Can I welcome Night into my house, not as an uninvited thief, but as an ancient Friend coming to visit, bringing comfort and rest?
Imagine that thought for a minute.
Rest instead of fear. Gladness instead of mourning. Joy instead of depression. Trust instead of worry. Love instead of control.
