While the world sleeps . . .

Being sort of a “night owl,” I find the world surprising, and different, on those mornings when I have to get out of bed at an early hour. Especially in the winter months when our time here on the east coast changes, and darkness falls around 5:00 o’clock in the evenings, and the sun rises in the mornings around 7:00 A. M.

So it was this morning. The world was quiet and peaceful when I climbed out of bed to say goodbye to a family member, home for Thanksgiving. A little gray squirrel scampered across the grass in the back yard, to hurriedly climb one of the long-leaf pines waiting there. There was no birdsong to fill the air since it is December, no mowers grinding away; just the quiet beauty of the Lord’s creation in the dusky shadows . . . while the world slept.

The quiet scene pushed my thoughts to wider realms, and the dark of night when things not so beautiful find their way into the minds of some, and later become reality.

Such was the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. That attack, planned as a surprise—while the world slept—took countless lives, and threw our country directly into World War II. We remember Pearl Harbor, and remind ourselves that while we are sleeping, others are wide awake.

And then, as I watched, the first rays of the morning sun began to creep slowly above the horizon. A beautiful reminder of God’s faithfulness, his love, his watch-care over us. Even as we sleep.

Grace and peace to you,

Mary Emma