Counting Sleeps (not Sheeps)

After listening to my children have conversations like this...

Maybe someday we'll buy a tree for our yard.

We can't.  That's church day.

No...SOMEday.  Not SUNday.

Well, Sunday is a day.  It could be that day.

Yeah, but it's not.

Why?

Because I said SOMEday, not SUNday...and you can't get trees on church day.

Oh.  Right.

...it's no wonder that my children have taken to counting down to significant events by announcing how many sleeps are left until such and such happens instead of how many days.  It's just easier that way, apparently.  Two sleeps until grandma comes.  Three sleeps until a birthday.  Seven sleeps until a friend comes over.  9,254 sleeps until Mom starts paying us back for all the grief we've caused her.  It works for them.

Of course, I often have difficulty tracking this.  Do I count power naps in on the sleep count?  What happens if I find myself eating a bowl of magically delicious Lucky Charms at 8:14 PM as I am tonight?  Doesn't the evening presence of a morning food cause confusion somehow?  And what if I wake up during the night, fall back asleep, wake up, fall asleep...I can only imagine the hullabaloo that causes for my fingers as they try to keep track of the sleeps.  And yes...sometimes I do count on my fingers.  Mock if you must.  But be nice, because you know you do it, too.

Scripture tells us in 2 Peter that a day is like a thousand years in God's eyes.  So I don't think God counts down to things like we tend to.  Which is a good thing.  That could get even more confusing than my late night consumption of breakfast cereal.

Maybe Jesus counted down when He was living on earth... 

5 sleeps until the Magi come for a visit. 
14 sleeps until I get to freak out the disciples by walking on water. 
37 sleeps until I am going to be brutally tortured and murdered because that's how much I love Becky Branch.

Um, yeah.  Wow and ouch.

I've been thinking a lot about God's grace lately.  Digesting every morsel of anything I can get my hands on in order to understand it.  Not that I ever will.  It's a crazy thing. 

I wonder how Jesus counted down the sleeps until He was able to offer His full and free grace-gift to me.  To you.  To the very ones who necessitated His death.

It's a silly thing to think about, really.  Except to say that Jesus knew it was coming.  He knew what was going to happen.  He knew that as His Father God deployed Him to be born as a wailing, naked baby that life would not be all fun and games.  He knew as soldiers were beating Him that He was allowing each and every strike to rip His flesh for their very own salvation.  Isn't that ironic?

And He knew that when it was all said and done, that I, too, would need His grace-gift time and time again.  For I am no better than the crowd who mocked Him.  The soldiers that beat Him.  The friends that betrayed Him.

I have a feeling that Jesus didn't count the sleeps until His own harm...rather, I have an inkling that if He counted down the sleeps to anything at all, it would be the number of sleeps until He could offer the gift I cannot do without: 

Grace.

It's existence doesn't mean that He waters down the truth or makes light of sin.

It doesn't mean that there isn't natural consequences and even punishment for wrong-doing.

It doesn't mean that things will always look the way we think they should.

It doesn't mean that it's a one time only gift exchange...it would be a rather lopsided one anyway.  My life for His grace?  Doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it? 

It does mean that He allows room for restoration and redemption.  Time and time again.  He picks up the dirty and broken pieces, does some crazy ninja-juggler thing with them, says "voila" and completely takes our breath away at how He is able to create such an amazingly beautiful masterpiece out of the trash we cluttered up the floor with.

He moves on.  Beckoning us to come along with Him.  Assuring us that there really is no need to count down the sleeps...because every single sleep will eventually lead us into a new day.  A day with new mercies and continued faithfulness (see Lamentations:3 for more on that one).

Don't get me wrong, I will still join the kids with great gusto as they count down sleeps to various occasions of excitement.  And I have a rather current list of my own, too, though a tad more mature in nature...well, except for the fact that I may or may not be counting the sleeps until a certain Muppet movie hits the theaters...but don't tell anyone.  That's just between you and I. 

But better than any birthday or movie or visitor or coffee-date or party or just about anything else, is the fact that we can bank on Jeremiah 29:11 being true - God has plenty of good things in store for us, even if we don't know exactly how many sleeps there are until they happen. 

And it all starts with accepting His grace-gift.

Which means I no longer have to fret about how power-naps and cereal snacks alter things, do I?! 

Nice.  In that case, I need a refill on my Lucky Charms...