A Prayer When You Need a Song at Midnight - Your Daily Prayer - August 5
A Prayer When You Need a Song at Midnight
By Peyton Garland
Bible Reading:
“Here is another illustration Jesus used: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.’” - Matthew 13:31-32
Listen or Read Below:
I’m most productive after the sun sets, when my toddler has gone down and I can trust he won’t stir for a solid few hours. It’s my chance to catch up on work emails, living room clean-up, and laundry. However, while nature dims the day, my brain wants to remind me of all the things I did wrong while the sun was shining high. I replay my conversations, disciplinary actions, and sins. I question who I am as a friend, a wife, a mother, and a believer.
While it’s a blessing to have a few hours of quiet to get chores done, it feels like a curse to be stuck alone with your brain when everything is too dark and too quiet. But such is the life of a woman married to a pilot, a woman who is, quite literally, alone once her baby goes to sleep nearly half of every month. I live on a farm with beautiful acreage, and, truth be told, I’m not nervous about staying by myself as far as intruders go, but silence and darkness as too much for a mind plagued with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. That’s what I fear when the sun has set and the world has grown quiet, gently recharging herself for another day.
Thus, I tend to keep a lamp on in the living room, one with a soft yellow light. I also tend to keep the living room TV on, often playing a rerun of the most recent Atlanta Braves baseball game. (Chop on, Bravos!) This manmade light and noise are my best defenses against my headspace and all the chaos that ensues.
On one of these late nights, whether alone or not, I can’t say, I was at our kitchen table when I heard a noise outside. Living on our Tennessee farm, I often hear donkeys braying, hunting dogs barking, and even coyote howling, at times, but this noise was different. It was softer, almost like a lullaby, and my child was already asleep, any music long turned off. I cracked the front door and heard birds chirping. “It’s nearly midnight,” I thought. “Why would birds be chirping?”
In my nearly three years living in this farmhouse, I’ve never heard birds chirping at midnight. My curiosity pushed me to do a little research, and I quickly discovered that there are often two reasons birds will sing at night: 1) they are nocturnal, and 2) they are looking for a mate.
These facts leave us, as humans, with two spiritual truths that I hope encourage you the next time you feel your heart and soul need a new song at night:
1. We aren’t alone.
Most of us know (at least in our minds) that God never leaves us. He is the definition, the summation, the essence, of loyalty. But this isn’t always easy to cling to, especially on long, hard nights when you feel alone, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. When faith isn’t easy is when it’s biggest, though. Faith isn’t much if there’s nothing stacked against it, right? If there aren’t trying relationships, financial strains, or hard seasons to make faith a living, being part of our Christian walk, what is faith? It’s simply a flat word printed on paper unless we let it be more.
Matthew 13:31-32 says, “Here is another illustration Jesus used: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.’” Our faith, even as small as a mustard seed, welcomes birds. It invites a song for us to sing on our hardest days. What a beautiful truth to rest in as the sun sets on a long, trying day.
2. We weren’t made to be alone.
Birds have mastered healthy rhythms and relationships far better than we. Many species, my favorite, the red cardinals, mate for life. Where one goes, the other isn’t far behind. They depend on each other for their entire lives for finding food, building nests, and growing their families. Birds understand their need for each other, and they don’t fight it. They don’t toy with pride and pretend they can go it alone. They know the winters are much too rough for that. They surrender to the undeniable reality that they need each other for the long haul.
I encourage you to recognize your need for others, too. I’m not saying everyone is called to marriage, and I’m certainly not suggesting that everyone you meet on Facebook become a “best friend.” But remember that we, too, need healthy community. We need godly counsel and encouragement when the nights are hard. We need people who will text us at midnight and remind us of their love and God’s faithfulness. We need each other to survive dark nights.
I pray you find your song at midnight, that you employ faith and seek beautiful relationships for life’s darkest (and brightest) days.
Let’s Pray:
Father, just as you never leave us or forsake us, no matter how dark the night, I pray we remember to engage our faith, to actively believe that you love us, are with us, and are singing your love songs over our lives. Just as the birds do, I pray we find others and point one another to your steady faithfulness. Amen.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Romolo Tavani
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