Mom Heart Moments #264

He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

ONE WEEKEND AT A CONFERENCE, someone asked Joy how to best reach the heart of a child or teenager. She replied, “Every night, no matter what, I knew that my mom would come to my bed to spend time and talk and pray with me before I went to sleep. It was our time, where I could pour out my fears, secrets, confessions, and dreams. If you want to win your teen, you need to give them time to talk to you, and bedtime is a great time to do that.”

It was true, no matter what a day held —fussing, conflict, excitement, drudgery, joy, celebration, hard work —ending it well was important to us. The idea was to tie all loose ends together with unconditional love by blessing my children each night, putting to rest the burdens of the day, and giving them into the hands of God.

“I love you no matter what. Forgive me for my impatience today, please?” Or “I forgive you for your disobedience today. You are very precious to me. I am blessed to have you. I love you, and God loves you, and He will be with you. Sleep in peace, my precious.”

Bedtime gives our children one last impression of their whole day, and it is a redeeming time of offering and restoring peace.

Though it did require a commitment of heart and time on my part, as often Clay and I were ready to put the day away for our “own” time, I see now that this giving and ending with love meant so much to all of our children. It has become special to me that my twentysomething kids still want our affirmation, still seek our blessing.

What does bedtime in your home look like? Are bedtime blessings a habit you’ve dropped due to the busyness of life? Do you need to pick it up once again?