Is
It Too Late to Call?
by Crying Wind
When the phone
rings in the middle of the night, I know it is one of
my children calling me. I'm never worried or surprised
as I turn on the light, get out of bed and stumble across
the room to answer the phone. Our family calls each other
any time of the day or night. In fact, I probably get
more calls after midnight than I do in the afternoon.
Our family has
never let a clock decide when we call each other. If I
want to talk to my son at midnight, I just call him. If
my daughter feels like talking at 3:00 AM, she knows I'm
happy to hear from her.
Of course, I
rarely call my friends in the middle of the night (although
sometimes I do). We run on Indian Time. We sleep when
we are tired, eat when we are hungry and talk to our loved
ones when we feel like it.
Sometimes the
middle of the night is a lonely and scary time and a person
doesn't want to wait six hours to hear a friendly voice.
Last week, my
son called me a t midnight and asked if I was tired. He
said he was in the mood to paint his kitchen and thought
I might like to help. An hour later we were both painting
the walls, we finished before the sun came up. He not
only had a freshly painted kitchen, but we'd had hours
of talking and laughing and sharing.
When the kids
were young, we lived on the farm and it wasn't unusual
for one or all of us to be wandering around the hills
in the middle of the night.
Sometimes we'd
saddle up the horses and go for a midnight ride. I wouldn't
trade those memories for anything - riding in the moonlight,
the only sounds were the clip-clopping of hooves and the
howl of coyotes.
Late on a January
night, the children rode their sleds down a hill and into
a herd of deer that had been sleeping in the hollow. While
the other frightened deer leaped off into the woods, one
deer leaped onto the sled with my son and took a short
ride with him before he realized his mistake and jumped
off into the woods after the other deer. It was an incredible
sight to see my son and the deer sliding down the hill
on the sled. If we'd gone to bed at the same time as most
people, we'd have missed a wonderful adventure.
When was the
last time you walked in the dark and looked at the stars
or listened to the night music of crickets and owls?
Just as my family
and friends know they can call me at any hour of the day
or night, I know I can call out to God any hour of the
day or night. It is never too late to call out to God,
He neither slumbers nor sleeps.
