“And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8: 21-22 (KJV)
2:45 a.m. – My mother is calling again. As I stumble from my bed in the adjoining room, I can look out across the shadowed valley through the uncurtained window. How very dark it is without the street lights of suburbia! I can see stars gleaming in the velvet sky and occasionally, the lights of a plane approaching distant Sacramento Airport.
But I can’t stop to look for long – Mama needs help. I put aside my sleepiness and shuffle into her room.
When I’m helping her ambulate to her bedside commode chair (or changing her linens because I didn’t get there in time), it’s easy to give in to exhaustion or frustration. Some of the times, I get there and she doesn’t know what she wants. There are moments it seems the night will never end and I will be responding to her calls forever.
It’s at these times I cling to the promise God gave to Noah. Once the ark landed and was unloaded, Noah made a sacrifice of gratitude for God’s care and protection. God blessed the sacrifice and made promises as to the future of the earth. One of those promises was “day and night shall not cease.”
I know the morning will come, no matter how endless the night seems in the wee hours, no matter how tired I am. My prayer is that God will accept my service to my mother as a sacrifice of love to Him and He will find them pleasing.
When the situation seems darkest, remember “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30: 5b) And morning will come!
© 2008 Mary Beth Magee
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