Talitha · A bedtime story where your child is the hero

There is an hour, late at night, when the whole world seems to be asleep. The houses are dark, the streets are quiet, and only here and there a child is still awake. In that hour, and only in that hour, something can happen. Someone may tap softly at the window. Someone who brings a wonder, just for that one child.

Tonight, it was Nora’s turn.

She lay under her blanket and was not the least bit tired. Bruno lay curled up at her feet. Nora was thinking about her day, and there was something she had not told anyone, because it felt too small to tell: She had played outside the whole afternoon. And when she came back in, nobody had noticed that she had been gone at all.

Nothing bad had happened. It was only a quiet little feeling, way down in her tummy. Something like this: Did anyone miss me today?

Bruno lifted his head.

He looked at the window, completely still, the way animals look when they hear something that is not there yet. Nora sat up.

And then she heard it too. Very softly, on the windowpane. Tap. Tap. Tap. As gentle as little soap bubbles touching the glass.

There was a glow at the window. At first Nora thought it was the streetlamp. But this light was different. It was warm and golden, and it moved ever so gently, as if it were breathing.

“Is somebody there?” whispered Nora.

The light grew brighter. And then, very slowly, it took a shape. First two gentle eyes. And then, all at once, there sat on the windowsill a little lamb, with wool that glowed like a candle from within.

“Don't be afraid,” said the lamb. Its voice was so soft and so warm that Nora felt a little braver right away. “I am Lumi.” And then its wool glowed a little brighter, all by itself, the way it does when somebody is glad and cannot hide it. “I come in this one hour, sometimes, to children who are still awake.”

Nora pulled her blanket up a bit. “Why to me?”

Lumi did not answer straight away. She looked at Nora, and there was something in her look that Nora could not place, as if someone were looking at a very old picture. “Because you were awake,” Lumi said at last. “And because nobody should be alone on an evening like yours.” Then, more quickly: “Would you like to see something that very few have ever seen?”

Nora thought for a moment. Then she nodded.

So Lumi turned to the windowpane and laid her small, glowing forehead against it, very gently, the way you do something that someone once did for you. And where she touched the glass, something happened. The cold, dark window began to shine. A warm golden glow spread out, slowly, the way the sun comes up in the morning. It travelled across the whole pane until there was no glass left at all. Where the window had been, there was now a gate of soft, golden light.

How it goes on, right to the end

And behind the gate was not the street. Behind the gate lay a wide, wide land.

“How did you do that?” whispered Nora.

“It is the one thing I am really good at,” said Lumi. “Nobody else can do it. Not one single soul in Elim.” She said it without pride, the way you say what color you are.

“Come,” said Lumi. “Just climb onto the windowsill and step through.”

Nora climbed out of bed. Bruno was beside her in one leap, before she had even put a foot on the rug. She stepped onto the sill, took one deep breath and walked through the warm light. It felt like sunshine on a summer day.

And then she was standing in the grass.

It was night, but not a dark night. Above her stretched a sky the color of honey, and as far as she could see, little lights were glowing. In the grass, on the hills, along the bank of a quiet river. Bruno ran in a little way, stopped, looked around, and then came back and stood right beside Nora, very close, as if to say: I am here too.

“Where are we?” she whispered.

“This is Elim,” said Lumi. “The land where nothing good is ever lost.” Her eyes moved across the meadow while she said it, back and forth, back and forth, and her lips moved just a little. Nora noticed and did not know what it was. Lumi was counting. She was counting the lights, the way she did every evening, and had done for a very long time, and she could not have told anyone why.

Then she lost her place, sighed quietly and started again from the beginning.

Nora bent down to one of the lights in the grass. It was warm and smooth like a little stone.

“Every light here was once something good,” said Lumi. “A kind word. A bit of courage, when someone was afraid. Things like that are never lost. They come to Elim and wait here until they are needed again.”

“Even when nobody saw it?” asked Nora.

Lumi looked at her. “Especially then.”

Far away, on the highest hill, there burned a light much bigger and warmer than all the others. It did not flicker in the wind. Nora knew at once that this light would never go out.

“And that one?” she asked quietly.

“That is the First Light,” said Lumi. “Everything warm here comes from there. I come from there too.” She paused for a moment. “It knows every light on this meadow. And it knows where each one is. Even the one that is not here right now.”

Nora looked up at the far, quiet light. And all at once the feeling from this afternoon came back, the one about being quiet, but it felt different now. It was as if someone were looking at her who had never once let her out of sight. Not this afternoon and not any other time either.

Lumi looked down at Nora, at her feet. “May I ask you something?” she said. “Why do you have slippers? There is already a floor.”

Nora had to laugh. “So that my feet stay warm.”

“I see,” said Lumi, and nodded seriously, the way you nod when you have not understood a thing.

Then she lifted a little light out of the grass and laid it gently in Nora’s hand. “This is yours now. Hold it close. Tomorrow I will show you how we can use it to help a little friend who is feeling a bit alone today.”

And then everything turned warm and golden. Nora fell asleep, with Bruno curled up at her feet, and the little light glowed softly in her hand the whole night through.

As you fall asleepYou were seen today, Nora. All day long, even when you thought nobody noticed. Stay lying still for another moment and feel how warm that is.

In the Bible: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7, NIV)

Before you fall asleep: would you like to tell Jesus something too? He is listening.

That was one whole evening, exactly as you receive it. Tomorrow morning the next one is in your inbox.
The dog here is called Bruno. In your version it is your own child’s pet or stuffed animal.