The best part about tonight’s local school board meeting was coming home in time to tuck my kids into bed. Most of the school board meetings over the last year – or however long I’ve been attending these – have contained lengthy closed sessions and late adjournments that have me home long after they’re drifting in dreamland. But tonight, we had our bedtime prayers and routine, including reading from a children’s Bible.
I picked up this particular Bible some years ago for my eldest when he was younger. I have always loved the style of illustration in it and the stories are simplified for a younger audience, but when we read them, I take the opportunity to add more content or context along the way. I also asked the kids for how they would feel in the situations we read about, or to tell me why some of the people in the story act like they do.
We aren’t reading in any particular order. I just start randomly flipping the pages until the kids yell “stop!” and that is what we will read… plus the next two or three stories depending on length. Tonight we read about Daniel translating the writing on the wall to Belshazzar and later being thrown into the lions’ den. Daniel was rewarded by the king for the translation, but it was when he was saved from certain peril in the lions’ den that those around him saw God at work. We also read about Jonah who was disobedient and his disobedience put others in harm’s way; when they threw him overboard and the sea calmed, they saw God at work.
I wonder if Daniel and Jonah ever realized that those moments of what others perceived as their darkest hour, facing certain death, were when God’s power at work was so clearly recognized by those around them. The impact of Daniel’s experience on King Darius, causing new laws to be written in every language that his people knew they were to fear and reverence Daniel’s God. For Jonah, there was a whole boat full of men who essentially agreed to commit murder – or would it be assisted suicide? – by throwing him overboard so the sea would calm and they would not capsize… and it did, just like he said. Imagine the wonder in their voices when they finally docked at their intended port and talked about the crazy storm that they lived through. I think we all go through dark times in our lives but reading about Daniel and Jonah tonight reinforced (to me) that sometimes our dark times just might be the background needed for others to see God at work in us, even if we can’t quite see it clearly ourselves.
Maybe that is a silver lining I never thought to look for, a silver lining that wasn’t about me but about God working through me to reach others.
I think what made my heart the happiest tonight, besides being home in time for the bedtime routine, was a) my eldest was the one who asked if we’d be doing our reading tonight, and b) they kept asking for one more story. ❤
Going Green In Texas 