A Familiar Voice

Our family vacation each summer requires a long road trip and I am most blessed to have a husband that prefers to do all the driving. That leaves me with the option of engaging in fun and games with my children, chatting incessantly, quietly reading, writing or sleeping. Usually sleeping on the way to vacation is not much of a need, but afterwards I am particularly weary and catching some shut eye on the nine hour drive home is usually a welcomed treat. Put more bluntly, I take full advantage of the situation and sleep like a baby…a very worn out baby! At the end of our vacation this summer as I was snoozing on a stack of pillows on the center car console I was abruptly awakened from my sound sleep by the voice of my daughter saying, “Dad?” I was very asleep mind you, and even though she is 18 years old, I was aware that my child had called out “Dad” and there was no answer. Which caused me to wake up and see what I needed to do to come to her aid. I slung myself upright and through squinted eyes looked at her and asked, “What do you need?” to which she replied she was in need of a bathroom stop.  I looked at my husband and he was talking away on his cell phone completely unaware of her need.  I told her we would stop at the next town and when hubby got off the phone I brought him up to date. Isn’t it telling that though I was right next to him and he was talking away on the phone, I did not hear a word of his conversation?  My daughter was in the very back of our Suburban and she uttered one word, “Dad?” and the lack of a reply sat me upright asking what she needed. We all had a fun little discussion about what had transpired and my husband pointed out that my relationship with my daughter gave me the unique ability to hear her voice and her needs above the noise going on all around me. My husband asked my children to consider the importance of their daily relationship with God and their need to spend time with Him. He challenged them  to consider how much God loves them in that He too can hear their voice when they pray and share their needs. It was a real life illustration of familiarity allowing sweet relationship between mother and child as well as Heavenly Father and child.