By Harold Keller

The older you get, the more you reminisce about earlier years.  Often I find myself, early in the morning, thinking about when my children were young. I laugh, now, at some of the things they did, but still remember how impatient I was with their innocence.  

One such incident came to mind early this morning.  My only son, Matt, had a problem when he was four or five years old of waking up in the middle of the night and crawling in bed with Jeanne and me.  At the time, we did not have a queen or king size bed. I would get frustrated, but wouldn’t complain until morning. I would tell Matt that he was old enough to sleep in his bed all night. Nothing worked.  Night after night, it was same thing.  Matt would crawl in bed, get comfortable, and sleep, but he interrupted my peace. I couldn’t understand how that never seemed to bother Jeanne.

Like many people do today, I decided to use a little psychology and use God.  (Notice, I didn’t say depend on God; I said use God.)  

This particular night, as Matt was going to bed, I knelt down with him and told him that Jesus wanted him to stay in his bed all night. He seemed to understand and I felt that, maybe, the prayer would work.  However, in the middle of the night, he, again, crawled in between us and, as usual, Jeanne and Matt slept well and I would get aggravated, but put up with the discomfort.

The next morning, as mad as I could be, I told Matt that I thought he had agreed to sleep in his bed all night, with the help of Jesus.  Being intimidated with my outburst, he said as only an innocent child could, “Daddy, when I woke up, I told Jesus I was cold and He told me to go and sleep with you and mom.” I had to laugh and to this day, still remember that morning.  

As I write about this experience, I’m reminded that the Bible says in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; we must become as pure and innocent as little children.

    If you have any questions, or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call (985) 652-8477, or e-mail: hkeller@comcast.net.