What I Learned from Luke

About three weeks ago, I was asked to babysit for three of my grandchildren who live here in Gardendale; Katie Jane age 3, Luke age 2 and Olivia (Livie) just turned 1. Scott, our oldest son and Tamara, his wife were taking their oldest, Kennedy, to see a play. I got to the house and Kennedy was dressed for the evening looking lovely in heels. By the way, she is already 5' 9" in sock feet and she is 13.

Merritt, granddaughter of our third oldest, was over for a visit. She just turned 6. Sooo........get the picture, Nanny and 4 kids, 6 and under. Sound like fun? It was. Merritt, the older cousin, was a great little helper. She played well with Katie while Luke followed close behind observing and Livie scooted all over the house in a fashion not easily put into words. Her locomotion resembles a person in Indian sitting position with one leg curled and the other extended. The extended leg provides the leverage while the curled leg is scraped along the floor. Sounds strange but is quite effective.

Merritt and Katie were dragging purses around with toys and assorted "things" in them, so Luke decided to pick up an idle purse Katie had been using. It was blue-green with the shiny spangles all over it. All was going well until Katie realized that Luke had claimed her discarded purse. She immediately began grabbing for it while Luke resisted with his loudest protests. A tug of war ensued with tears and screams from both parties. All my efforts at negotiation failed and finally, Katie prevailed. Luke sat down on the floor and sulked for about 30 seconds and claimed another discarded purse with less appeal, but preferable to none.

Merritt and Katie played house with the Littlest Pet Shop while Livie disassembled their creations. About 7:30 Luke began to run around the house saying "nite-nite, nite-nite" and rubbing his eyes. He was tired and ready for bed. Faces washed, teeth brushed and pajamas on, Luke continued going all through the house repeating "nite-nite, nite-nite". Merritt tried to assist saying "Luke, what is nite-nite?" No response, just "nite-nite, nite-nite". We took him in every room in the house, looking in closets and under beds, offering every Kermit, Grover, Earnie, Mickey etc. we could find. Lori and Scott arrived about 8:15 to take Merritt home. Alas, my helper was gone.

I put Luke and Katie in bed, said prayers and turned on a Disney movie to lull them to sleep. No such luck for Luke. He would alternately lie down for 2 minutes, stand up in bed and scream "nite-nite, nite-nite". I put every blanket I could find in bed with him to see if any would suffice. Nothing worked! At 9:00 Scott called to check in, it was intermission at the play. I told him of my plight and he said "Oh, it's just his Elmo blanket. It is bluish-green with red Elmo's on it." I told him I had not seen it in all my searching and he said it had to be in the house. Luke had it earlier in the day. He said he would call back later to check on me to see if I had found it and closed with "He will not go to sleep without his nite-nite." I again searched all over the house, under beds, sofas, tables, in closets, and I even crept into Livie's room while she slept and looked in her crib for the elusive "nite-nite".

NO LUCK!

Scott called back at 10:00 as promised. No progress. No Elmo blanket. No "nite-nite". No other suggestions but convinced he was convinced Luke had hidden it somewhere in the house. I tried rocking him. He did not appreciate my efforts. He was restless and yearning for his comfort. I went back into the room and changed the movie to Peter Pan. I was stepping back to go around a childs foam easy chair and I almost tripped over it. When I straightened myself up my eyes fell on the edge of a fuzzy bluish-green with red BLANKET. Luke had stuffed it down into a pocket on the back of his easy chair.

I pulled the prized "nite-nite" out of its hiding place and walked over to his crib. He looked up at me and smiled. I spread the blanket over his little body and he immediately curled up into a ball, resembling a rolly polly. He closed his eyes and he was asleep in 2 minutes.

So you are wondering............and the point is? Luke's "nite-nite" incident posed a question to my heart. What if in our grown-up lives we were as passionate about not putting our heads on our pillows at night and closing our eyes for sleep until our COVERING, SECURITY, COMFORTER, PEACE, yes our SAVIOR wrapped us in His embrace and we had a warm conversation with Him. Wouldn't sleep be sweeter?
He is always there waiting, are we searching for Him?