My kids used to wake me up in the night when they were small. “Hey, Mom! You awake?” It was for a variety of things: They needed a glass of water, they had gotten sick, something looked scary in the darkness of their bedroom, they had a bad dream … the list goes on.

As a parent, you learn pretty quickly to develop an inner well of (mostly) inexhaustible patience. You get up. You soothe the child and clean up the mess or investigate the “monster” in the closet. You lay curled around your kid in their tiny twin bed while they calm down and fall back to sleep.

Only kids are bold enough to demand this kind of no-holds-barred attention in the dead of night, right? They ask, and they receive. Only kids have that kind of access to a parent’s inexhaustible love and commitment. 

Guess what? You’re one of God’s kids. So am I. 

And here’s the real gem: We have that kind of access to the Creator of the world. “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12).

We get to come to God with Every. Little. Problem. Every monster in our closet. Every thirst for water. Every little thing, big or small, real or imagined—we can wake him up with a nudge in the dead of night (not that he ever sleeps!): “Hey, Dad? You awake?” 

And his answer? “Always.” His arms open wide to calm and soothe us.