Photo by Isaac Del Toro on Unsplash

This post is part of a writing challenge I took part in to stretch my writing. Five Minute Friday’s word for the day was “Enjoy.” This is spontaneous writing in only 5 minutes.

Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Psalm 127:3

Beeping. A muffled sound of beeping filled the room, growing in volume. What on earth? My eyes swept the room to determine the source of this intrusion that disturbed the quietness. Narrowing it down to a specific area, I ventured toward the sound.

The offender? An old MP3 charging base, forgotten about and never unpacked during a move several months before. It had sat, neglected, waiting to be of use again when just the right location presented itself. Only it hadn’t, and so it sat, until in desperation, the low battery signal voiced its complaint.

“Remember,” it seemed to say. “Remember.”

I didn’t want to take the time to attend to it now, but that incessant beeping continued. Sighing, I removed the charging base from its protective case and sat down. I tried to pry the back open with my fingers, but the plastic battery compartment lid was brittle, and a piece of it broke off.

I sighed again. “Fine,” I stated impatiently, as I went off in search of a screwdriver. Quickly finding one, I sat again and picked up the base. The screwdriver accomplished the task easily, and I removed the batteries, glad that it had been relatively simple.

But still the beeping continued.

“Remember.”

Examining the base again, I found a smaller compartment that looked as if it might hold another battery. This one opened easily, and I removed the small, round battery without difficulty. 

The noise immediately stopped.

Picking up the case, I removed the MP3 player that I had safely tucked into an interior pocket. 

“Hello, old friend,” I whispered.

Glancing around the room again, I was determined to find a place for them once and for all. Rearranging books, a lamp, and a plant on a nearby table, I sat the base in the space I had made. Finding a nearby outlet, I plugged it in. I set the MP3 player on the base and struggled to remember how it even worked. I must have hit the right combination of buttons because suddenly music filled the air and it immediately transported me back in time. 

Yes, I remember.

My children were very young then. Almost every night, we had snuggled and said our bedtime prayers together, and we would finish by singing the chorus to the song that was now playing: 

Jesus, Keeper of this life

You are my Refuge, my Savior, my Guide

Watch over this little one tonight

Guard his every footstep as he travels this life

And in some quiet moment draw him to Your side

That he may come to know You, Jesus

As the Keeper of this life.

We adapted the lyrics slightly to cover all of my children. We would end with hugs and kisses, and I would sleep well, knowing that the Lord had heard.

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

The children grew older, we would have another child, and would move and have other disruptions to our nightly ritual, and eventually we stopped singing the song.

My eyes filled with tears as I relived the memory of those precious times with my little ones. They are grown now, but they remember. In a nostalgic moment, my daughter recently confided that she will do the same with the children she will have some day.

Enjoy your little ones. Treasure all the moments you can, because they will pass quickly. Enjoy every moment.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

The Keeper, Geoff Moore & The Distance