Go Night Night Papa!

Perfect love sometimes does not come until grandchildren are born.

(Welsh Proverb)

Two of my grandchildren, Sydney three years old and Wyatt two, spent the weekend and yes, they are bright and beautiful beyond your wildest imagination. While traveling to a party we played a game called—Go Nite Nite, Papa! Our fun emerged quite spontaneously when Sydney, strapped in her car seat behind me, said, “Papa, sing Build up the Temple.” So over and over and over again we sang that little chorus. Needing to rest I stopped singing and got quiet.” “Gin Papa, Gin Papa!” Wyatt demanded. “Sing it again, Papa,” Sydney pleaded. “No!” I screamed out in jest, “Papa is tired and going to sleep.” “No, Papa gin—sing it again!” they screamed. “No, Papa is tired of singing; I’m going nite nite.” I began snoring loudly and Sydney yelled, “Wake up papa!” Wyatt chimed in, “Sake up, Papa, sake up Papa!” They kept insisting, so all of a sudden I screamed, “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” They began to laugh and giggle. So, for 20 minutes I went nite nite; they yelled at me; I screamed Ahhhhhhhhhhh! And they laughed. By the time we arrived at our destination my voice was almost gone. On the way back they insisted, “Go nite nite, Papa.” So, I did. These moments are now etched in my memory.

When the two, never quiet or run out of energy grand kids went home; I thought about the Nite Nite game. Why was that silly amusement so much fun for them? My joy came in knowing they were being entertained and taking delight in me. But what was in it for them; what did they get out of it?

In my own humble opinion, I think they took delight in knowing they controlled a strength greater than their own. They found joy in causing the one into whose care they were entrusted to act like a child. Sydney and Wyatt reveled in the fact that they could bend the arm of the one who often held them.

We call a child's mind "small" simply by habit; perhaps it is larger than ours, for it can take in almost anything without effort (Christopher Morley). Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, “Unless you are converted and become as little children you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” Unless we meet, through a childlike dependency, God’s sincere need for affection; there is no place in the Kingdom of Heaven that will please us. Approach the Lord with childlike faith. Go nite nite, Father God, go nite nite!