New earworm

Mashed taters! (flash)

Comfort

anher had watch last night from midnight to eight, just when I was asleep.

Wouldn't you know it? The one night he isn't here, I have a bad dream. It featured ghosts and vampires and other horror staples.

You would think that a grown up like myself would have no problem with this. Ghosts are for kids, right? Well, that's not really true. I believe that ghosts might exist*, which is good enough to keep me awake in the middle of the night after a bad dream. And no husband around, because of work.

So, I lay there for a little while, and I prayed. And, even though it helped, it wasn't enough. So, I got up (feeding the cats, who were restless), and opened up the drawer of the nightstand we keep a TV on. The first thing I grabbed was just what I was looking for- my Chrysalis cross**. I slept the rest of the night with the cross in my hand.

Years ago, before I had even met anher, I and several others, youth and adults, were on a trek in Philmont that included a night at Uracca Mesa. The mesa has a lot of ghost stories associated with it, many of them properly scary ones, and the staff members that live there tell them to the campers every night. It's part of the camp program. That night, I also prayed and slept with my hand on a cross- a small jade cross that I'd also been given during my Chrysalis weekend (and since lost, sadly). The next morning, one of the other youth asked my dad how he slept.

He pointed out that, even if there are ghosts and ghouls waiting for us on the mesa, God has promised to keep us safe. No matter how scary the ghost stories are, any ghosts that may attack us are powerless compared to God, and we can sleep easily because of that.

It was exactly what I had told myself- and believed- that night on Uracca Mesa. Last night, I again took comfort in God's power, with the cross in my hand as a physical reminder. Even with faith, I needed the physical presense to banish the last quivers of fear. But with my prayers said and a cross firmly in hand, I slept the rest of the night as easily as the first part.

God will protect us. That's a real comfort at 6 am in an empty house.

*I don't do seances and the like, though. At best, disturbing the dead is rude.

**Chrysalis is part of the Walk to Emmaus program, sponsered by the Upper Room. At the end of a three day retreat, every participant gets a cross on a rainbow-colored string.