The Peaceful Sound of Crashing Waves

I was laying in bed last night relaxing with my wife on the edge of falling asleep and my mind rushed back to the time when we were married on a beach in Maui. 

While our room was nothing spectacular (having no breathtaking ocean views), we would leave the window open all night long so we could hear the constant sound of the crashing waves as we drifted off to sleep in paradise.  What an incredible blessing it was to get to marry my beloved on a beach in Hawaii.  It was like there was nothing else in the world to worry about as we were lost in the week that we hoped would never end.  It was certainly one of the greatest experiences of our lives.

And now, almost eight years later, as I'm lying in my bed I am drifting off to sleep again by the peaceful sound of crashing waves.  This time, however, I'm still in Minnesota; a thousand miles from any ocean.  Now the sound is coming from the baby wave machine in my newborn daughter's bedroom that I can hear through her monitor. 

This moment seems more peaceful than that previous one, because this came after nearly six weeks of getting less than minimal sleep.  I felt a combination of jubilation and great peace.  And also a little confusion about whether or not I owe Gary Ezzo our firstborn because of the great peace his book has provided our family.  All three of our kids responded well to the methods in Babywise, sleeping through the night after nine or ten weeks. Our newest, Olivia, seems to have gotten a hang of it in five weeks!

In the chaos of having three small children, two within 11 months of one another, and the busyness of selling our home and preparing to move, God has blessed us with good sleep much sooner than expected.  And just last night, our newborn gave us a break from her routine "witching hour" and went to sleep at 8:00 pm allowing us to have the most amazing quiet time that we've had in quite a long time.

So hearing the sound of crashing waves this time around was much more rewarding than that first time only hundreds of feet from the shore.  This time it was the perfect rest given at just the right time after weeks of dwindling energy being drained off by a houseful of little ones.

I drifted off to sleep thanking God for those sounds of crashing waves which were much more satisfying than any beach in Hawaii.