Answering the Call at 3:00 AM

During this presidential campaign, we have been told that it's important to elect someone who can handle the call that comes at 3:00 AM.

But I am not talking about that call. I am talking about the call that I get, just about every night, at 3:00 AM...the same call that most of us mom's get.

It's the voice of Jesus, in the form of a baby's cry, that calls out to me in the dead of sleep and says, "Wake up...come and love me."

Sometimes I have to listen carefully to hear Jesus, but it is He who calls me. It may sound like my daughter, but it is really my Lord.

"You can sleep when you're dead. Come and feed me."

"I'm sad. Come and comfort me."

"It's dark in here, and I'm lonely. I want you near me."

And so I rise from my sleep, weary with eyes half-shut, and shuffle in to pick up my baby girl. "I'm coming Jesus," I sometimes say. It's the way I remind myself that there is great holiness to be obtained in this job of motherhood--even in the littlest of moments, we are doing great things for Christ.

It's hard to answer the call night after night, but if I think about it these precious moments with Jesus, through the tender cuddles of my little one, won't last forever.

What better way to be spending 3:00 AM?