For whatever reason, my bedtime has become later and later. Although I was a keen critic of my teenagers staying up till the wee hours, the past few months have seen me following suit. I’ve had to eat my words that “nothing good happens after midnight,” since God often gives me blog-insights well after that.

At first I tried to camouflage my new habit: “Last night was just a fluke, kids. I’m still a morning person.” But as the weeks passed, my lark-ness morphed into owl-y-ness. Even Jack complied, dragging around all morning like a record at 33 1/3 speed, but zipping up to 78 at midnight.

Last night I crawled into bed after 3:00 AM. My final words to the Lord were, “I know. This is ridiculous.”

This morning God announced a new program for me. Just as he provided a worm to eat Jonah’s biblical vine to get him up and going, he provided a tiny critter to nibble me awake. I never saw it, but my best guess about the sharp jab in my forearm was a spider. Although we’ve seen daddy-long-legs in our basement, I’ve always told skitterish kids spiders aren’t interested in climbing two flights to the bedrooms. But when God says go, animals do.

Nate was right when he repeatedly said our battle against woodland critters would be ongoing, since we lived on the edge of a forest. We agreed it would be pointless to call pest control, sort of like trying to keep the bottom of a boat from getting wet.

After God’s wake-up this morning, I noticed the clock said 8:00 and knew I needed more than five hours of sleep before tackling the day. But while drifting off again, a second “ouch” woke me. Finally I got the message. My thought had been more sleep; his was more hours in my day.

One of the magnificent things about God is how creative he is in achieving his goals. That’s good news for those of us who hunger for his participation in our lives. Oftentimes he allows painful circumstances, but being the recipient of God’s personal attention always includes a positive undercard. If we’re willing to submit, we’ll eventually experience the good stuff.

This morning’s unique wake-up call left two welts that have coaxed me to set my alarm tonight. If I don’t, God may direct his assistant to climb the stairs again. In the mean time, where’s that number for pest control?

^“The Lord God provided a vine… to ease [Jonah’s] discomfort. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.” (Jonah 4:6-7)

Praising and Praying with Mary

1. Thank you for praying about my painful feeding tube, which is still with me as per the GI doctor’s recommendation today: “Removal is easy. Re-establishing is difficult.”
2. Pray that new, powerful antibiotics will eliminate infection and ease pain.
3. Praise for minimal nausea this week, always a concern.