A few months back, Jackson – my middle son of a spry 7 years of age – asked me to close the closet door in his room as he settled himself in the bed. It was an interesting request – the first in his young life (to me at least). So, I closed the door. But before I turned out his light, I asked him why it was that he wanted me to close the door.
“I don’t know,” he replied, “I get scared when it is open.”
What is it about the unknown around a dark corner that so occupies a child’s mind that he is overcome by fear? Why is he afraid of what he cannot see?
One might surmise that it is because a child has yet to develop the ability to understand reason. A dark corner in the middle of the night presents an element of the unknown that his mind cannot process. Instead of understanding, as a reasonable person would, that the darkness hides clothes and shoes on the floor and some discarded and seldom used toys – he sees in the darkness the bogeyman – a fearsome creature, bent on his destruction. When common sense, which the child has really yet to learn, would tell him that if he fears the bogeyman – he should rise from his bed, flip on the light and see – not what he fears the most – but the clothes that he took off when he changed into his pajamas.
As adults, as people of reason, we have our bogeyman (or bogeymen) too. Who knows what they might be? For you, it could be the loss of a loved one that you fear most. It could be the loss of your profession or my career or their reputation. It could be almost anything for anyone. Ultimately, though, it is wholly upon us to grow beyond our personal bogeyman – and our fear should be a reverent respect for the Almighty, not the shadows we imagine lurking around the corner.
It is my hope, that we all would be reasonable enough to just turn on the lights – and look in the closet – and see that the thing that we were fearing – is just a pair of socks, crumpled on the floor. Then, maybe, we can give up on the bogeyman – and just get a good night’s sleep.
Peace to you.