On a crispy December morning the day after Christmas 2002 my 23-year-old son called at 10:05 am and asked to speak to my 14-year-old son. I took the portable phone with me. As I began the task of waking the sleeping stretched out man/child his older brother said over the phone, “Oh mom don’t wake him up. You’re not waking him up are you?” I replied, “You know, it’s OK if he gets up. It’s 10:00 in the morning!” I proceeded to wake my son so that he could receive a message from his older brother.
As I walked away and left the two of them to chat I thought about the fact that I don’t actually like to wake up sleeping people either. I’m obviously kind of a softie when it comes to letting people “sleep in.”
I’m a little timid about encouraging people to wake up spiritually too. Step 12 is the challenge to be a spiritual wake up call to our brothers and sisters. It says, “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, share this message with others and practice these principles in all you do.” The invitation to wake up is issued by the Lord and His servants throughout the scriptures. Here is just a sampling:
Awake, awake, stand up (2 Nephi 8:17)
Awake awake, put on thy strength (2 Nephi 8:24)
O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep (2 Nephi 1:13)
Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness (2 Nephi 1:23)
Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee; for behold, I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy (Mosiah 3:2-3)
…now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11)
…awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words (Alma 32:27)
Yea, let the cry go forth among all people: Awake and arise and go forth to meet the Bridegroom; behold and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord. (D&C 133:10)
As I proceed with the work of “carrying the message,” and inviting people to “get out of bed” spiritually speaking, I sometimes feel a little bad about interrupting their sleep. So why am I timid? Maybe it’s because I know that while being and remaining spiritually awake is very rewarding, it is also full of challenges.
Perhaps the things we need to take into account are the same things I considered the December morning I woke my young son to speak with his older brother. It’s getting late in the day – historically speaking. The message we bring is not our own. It is a message from our Older Brother. We should not feel sorry about waking up our heavenly siblings. We are waking them up to the personal love, direction and power of Jesus Christ and for the work of the Atonement in their lives. We are waking them up to Someone and for Something very wonderful. No apologies necessary!
By Nannette W.
Posted Thursday, December 26, 2008
Copyright 2008 by Nannette W. All right reserved. Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit. This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.
Yeah–I need to do more waking up…for me the difficulty comes is figuring out who and when and how. Sometimes the Older Brother may be asking for someone and I’m just not listening well enough…well, here’s to getting better!
Probably not a coincidence that I read this entry this morning. I have been thinking about approaching someone with a 12-step study guide, but have been hesitant. Your message feels like a spiritual nudge to do so.