another post-bedtime conversation

Israel is, as of this week, afraid of the shadows that our neighbor's motion-sensitive light cast through a tree onto his wall. We've talked over and over it. Shadows can't hurt you. Shadows are just different colors. Shadows can't touch you. Look! You can make YOUR shadow, too! Here's MY shadow. There's the tree making the shadow. It's STEVE'S tree, so it's okay. It's Steve's light, so it's okay. Once it helped to have the dog sleep with him. Once.

Israel stutters a lot, but I'll omit most of that. Suffice it to say his end of the conversation took a lot longer for him to say than it will take for you to read it. We'll just pick up in the middle of the action here....

"But I'm afraid of the shadows."

"Israel, there are things in life that are worth being afraid of. But shadows are not worth being afraid of. They can't hurt you."

"But I am afraid of the shadows."

"Well, you're just going to have to find courage to deal with that, then."

(I should mention here that the light that makes the shadows on Israel's wall was not even on this evening and I had demonstrated that, in fact, there were no shadows on the wall.)

"But...I jus' want to cye because I want somepin'."

"What do you want?"

"I jus' want somepin' to make me feel better."

"Well, you have Jesus to help you feel better and me and Daddy and your bear and your blanket...and Eden is in here with you, so you're not alone."

"But I want to cye because I want somepin' to make me feel better."

"Well, what would make you feel better?"

"A cow would make me feel better."

"A cow would make you feel better?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you can pretend there is a big cow in your room, then."

"But, but, but...there ARE no cows in my room...they're just in the barn. Maybe I can have a BUNCH of cows to make me feel better."

"Well, then, you can pretend there are a bunch of cows in your room."

"And maybe horses make me feel better, too. They live in the barn."

"Think about cows and horses, then, and go to sleep. Good night!"

Of course, now he was up again, 15 minutes later, and eventually prayed, "Jesus, can you help me not be afaid of the tees?" Then he added, "And the cows help me feel better, too...!"