One morning, when my baby started crying, my oldest daughter (then eight years old) ran out of bed to get him so that my husband and I could sleep a little longer. After nearly a decade of constant exhaustion spread over the rearing of four children, getting those extra 15 minutes of rest was divine. It wasn’t the sleep itself that meant so much but rather where it came from.
See, my oldest used to be the infant who never napped and spent most of every night screaming. As I thought about how the child who stole our sleep had become the child who guarded our sleep, the verse from Tehillim echoed in my head: “Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.” My husband and I had worked so hard for so long, and suddenly we were beginning to see the fruits of our labor.
With my oldest 19 and that baby almost 12, we have been blessed to reap in joy over and over again. May your years of sowing in tears bring a bounty of joy greater than you could have imagined.
