Truth of God

January 2013 PROMPT: Tell us what you learned about GOD during your childhood years


Jumping into bed so the creatures I imagine under my bed won’t grab my ankles, I reach safety by quickly covering myself with blankets exuding their familiar fresh scent. I wouldn’t go into my room without my mother, and it was a fight to get me in bed otherwise—unless my dad threatened to take away my hour of cartoon time. Just going to my room, there was a window with lights that seemed to dance with movement enough to scare me silly. Too often I thought I saw people looking in. “Monster!” I exclaimed; my breath caught in my throat. Most times, when the blankets covered me I would grin from ear to ear, knowing I was safe.

“Okay. Time for prayers.”
“Awww, Mom! Do we have to?”
“Now,” she began. “I lay me down to sleep.”
“I lay me down to sleep…Mom? If there are no monsters how can there be angels?”
“You don’t have to worry about monsters. God’s angels will protect you.”
“Don’t angels see everything I do? Everything I think?” I pulled myself further under my blankets bearing Luke Skywalker flashing his light saber protectively and looked worriedly at my mom. “I can’t sleep.”
“I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”
“I pray the Lord my soul to keep...mom?”
“If I die before I wake.”
“If I die before I wake…Mom, I don’t want to die in my sleep.”
“God will be there for you and me, your Dad and your sisters, and Grandma and Grandpa, and the whole world… I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
“I pray the Lord my soul to take…Mom?”
“Yes, dear?”
“I’m still afraid of monsters. Why can’t God take away the monsters?”
“God gives us the freedom to choose between right and wrong. If God took away everything that was wrong, none of us would have a chance to know what’s right because we would all be gone! No one but God is perfect.”
“Mom? How can God love us if we’re not perfect?”
“Because we can try to become better. Think good thoughts and let God forgive the rest…In Jesus’ name we pray.”
“In Jesus’ name we pray.”
“Amen.”
“Amen.”

If you want to learn about God, I discovered in my childhood it helps to talk to God.


Word count: 383

Written for

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The Christian Writing Contest  (E) Featured in Schnujo's CONTEST CHALLENGE for June 2021! #1376214 by ruwth