Night Night

We had a typical night last night which went something like this:
9:00 p.m. Got home from church and got kids ready for bed
9:30 p.m. Kids asleep early since very tired
11:00 p.m. Adam and Holly have trouble getting to bed even though they are exhausted
11:30 p.m. Cosette wakes up screaming like someone is attacking her, goes back to sleep
12:00 a.m. Adam and Holly lay down and try to go to sleep
12:30 a.m. Finally sleep for all
2:30 a.m. Charlie wakes up screaming
2:35 a.m. The monitor is accidentally turned off by sleep-walking parents (oops)
3:30 a.m. Charlie is still screaming and Holly wakes up
3:35 a.m. Charlie is in bed with Adam and Holly laying down and sucking fingers
3:40 a.m. Charlie is sitting up in bed with Adam and Holly
3:45 a.m. Charlie is laying down again
3:50 a.m. Charlie is sitting up again
3:55 a.m. Charlie is laying down again
4:00 a.m. Charlie is sitting up again and Holly is trying not to scream out loud
4:05 a.m. Charlie is laying down and Holly explains to him that it is the middle of the night and that he needs to sleep in his own bed
4:15 a.m. Charlie is in his bed crying again
4:30 a.m. Charlie is asleep and all are sleeping again
5:00 a.m. Cosette wakes up and comes in to Adam and Holly's room asking for water
5:05 a.m. Cosette has cup given by Adam and lays in bed with Adam and Holly
5:10 a.m. Holly realizes Cosette is all wet...not from the water...YUCK!
5:15 a.m. Cosette is changed, sheets changed, everyone is laying down again
5:20 a.m. Holly can't fall back to sleep so takes Cosette back to her own bed and lays with her
5:30 a.m. Everyone is asleep again
6:30 a.m. Adam's alarm goes off, but thankfully Holly, Cosette and Charlie are still asleep (poor Adam)
7:30 a.m. Adam is off to work
8:00 a.m. Holly and the kids start their day!

For many years (2 1/2 to be exact) I would become soooo angry and just plain mean on a night like this, but God is so gracious to conform us to the image of Christ! Many months ago I read in 2 Corinthians 6 of Paul's "Ministry of Reconciliation" and the hardships he had to endure to minister to people. As a servant of God he ministered "by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, MANY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, hunger, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech, and by the power of God."

WOW! I can't compare myself with this at all, but in the ministry of motherhood I hope to run the race like Paul. This passage changed my perspective of what I thought I needed and instead to strive to minister with "patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech, and by the power of God."