Here’s a piece I wrote over at The Glorious Table…
I’m not sure how the tradition started. When my children were young, we did not co-sleep. I am not against co-sleeping; it just wasn’t something that happened in our family. My son was a super noisy baby (read: laughed out loud in his sleep) and my daughter was particularly independent. I didn’t want to sleep with the giggler, and my daughter simply wouldn’t sleep with us; she preferred her own space.
Many years down the road, we are now a co-sleeping family once a week. My son is now a sweet, sentimental seven-year-old, and he cherishes his “Monday nights with Mommy.” In fact, this November his birthday falls on a Monday and he has been reminding me for the entire year. Since he now sleeps quietly, this arrangement works out well. It is on these Monday nights that we get to read, talk, and snuggle in a way I am sure I will miss years from now.
It was on one of these Monday nights a few months ago when I noticed he seemed particularly quiet. He’d been at Vacation Bible School all evening, so I assumed he was just tired from all the activities. We were reading beside one another when he turned to me and asked, “Mom? What do I have to do to go to heaven?”
My eyes widened. This is the question all believing parents wait for. We nurture and love these little people in the deep hope that someday, they will ask us these very words. And then we have the incredible privilege of sharing the good news with them.
The only problem was, something was off about my son’s question. He sounded worried. An unusually precocious child, he has known and understood about Christ’s love and redemption for a long time. I quickly realized he wasn’t asking me about salvation through faith. This child was asking me what he had to DO. As in earn. As in how to work his way to heaven…
To see how I answered him and read the full post go to The Glorious Table here.
Anne Rulo 