Knight Time

Once Upon a Time there was a little red headed boy named Ryder. Like most kids, Ryder loved adventure and the unending ability to learn new and exciting things. Every day in his life he would fill it with games, puzzles, jaunts and excursions.

Each day was a welcoming world of newness. Ryder embraced this outlook on life with stupendous excitement until one day…

There is a time in a child’s life that fear creeps in like an unwelcome visitor in the night. The age in which this comes (and goes) varies for all. And sadly it seems this part of childhood is unavoidable. But I am not disappointed by this at all because, in my humble opinion, its a great opportunity to learn a new trait. The ability to combat what is physically unseen but completely relevant and evident in the life of a child. Let’s not pretend here, this stuff its real…

Imagination is the ability to explore what is not currently reality but could be. Who says monsters can’t come out of your closet, that marshmallows can’t appear out of thin air, or that bridges aren’t being built by sweet little elves right under your own bed?

The ability of a child’s imagination is vast and we as parents want our children to have an imagination because it is the vehicle through which they explore life, seen and unseen, real and … not yet. But the tool of imagination, like most things in life, has the good and the bad, the evil and the valiant. Teaching our children to know how to combat or welcome the varying kinds of adventures is how we play a part in this tale.

Ryder has gone through phases of crying in his sleep (Rory is in one now) and occasionally that crying will wake them up expressing fears. We talk about it, pray it out and give the night another try. Ryder has recently expressed a fear of the dark, “I need a night light.” “I need the hall light on and the door open.” “[He points] Can we leave that light on?” (the overhead light in his room). And although occasionally this strategy is a ploy to avoid bedtime and to gain a sneaky adventure with his toys, overall it was showing a fear of being alone in his dark room. I did not want to brush this off as “a phase” in the sense that it is real to him, very real.

I remember being this very kid. For years sleep walking to the couch in the living room and finding myself there in the morning. Subconsciously my mind, my heart, or even my spirit was uncomfortable in the darkness of the room in which I laid and where my imagination – the darkest corners and creepiest things – crawled out with freedom I had not allowed them.

My mom has always been the innovative type (with four kids close in age that were home schooled and a full time teaching job in her back yard studio, you betcha she had to be innovative!). She never made me feel stupid for being afraid of the night. Rather she left the hall light on, got me a night light and eventually the winning strategy…

…stars. These simple plastic stars and paper stickers brought the most amazing comfort. They would brighten up my night and stay with me  until I would fall into a sweet sleep. This strategy has worked for Ryder as well.

Along with pajamas, brushing teeth, praying, blankets and pals, the bedtime routine now includes charging up the stars with his overhead light and letting them shine so that his imagination explores through wonderment and if it finds itself in a rough avenue then he is not alone.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

– 2 Corinthians 4:18

I have no doubt that children see the unseen things far more easily than we do. Children have a faith that should be cultivated, and giving them the tools to combat what could be stifled is currently my goal.

  “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

– Romans 13:12

So when the morning light comes and all fears have faded away with the darkness of night, my little Knight knew how to battle those fears with courage and strength. He is not alone in that room, he is guided by a greater light, from inside-out. No monsters will win in his battles.

No, they won’t win even a punch or a scratch. My little Knight will battle them all and tell his sister how he did it, so she too will be valiant, a Princess in her quest to achieve life to the fullest, regardless of the battles she might face.

“We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense.”

– 2 Corinthians 6:7