January 6, 1999
DOWN HOME:
Who'd think napping would make her list?
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___"There's nothing better than knowing you have nothing better to do than take a nap," Lindsay proclaimed one cool, drizzly afternoon during her Christmas break from school.
___Say what? My ears must've failed me for a second there.
___"There's nothing better than knowing you have nothing better to do than takea nap," she repeated, slowly.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___This is the child who used to fall asleep during nap time holding onto my shirt so I couldn't get up before she did. As if I wanted to.
___This is the kid who used to act as if sleep were the Great Enemy, to be defeated at all costs--including our eardrums, not to mention utter sanity.
___"Well, naps are one of my favorite things," she explained. Thank you, Maria von Trapp.
___Imagine what the "Sound of Music" would have sounded like if Rogers and Hammerstein had written the lovable Austrian nun/nanny as a 15-year-old American schoolgirl. "Pizza and CDs and yellow Volkswagen Beetles/ Movies and cheeseburgers and naps without boll-weevils/These are a few of my favorite things!"
___Of course, the kid has a point.
___That's why I always volunteered to put Lindsay and her sister, Molly, down for their naps when they were little. Back then, it was my "daddy-duty" to help them get to sleep after lunch following church. Small wonder I still look back on those lazy Sunday afternoons as great times. If I ever could get them to sleep--and you can get practically any kid to sleep if you're willing to read enough books--then I could drift off to slumber myself.
___Now Lindsay values naps as much or more than I do.
___One of the ways you know your children are getting older is that bit by bit they begin to like more of the things you like. Today, it's naps. Tomorrow, she'll actually enjoy eating vegetables. Someday (and I know this is an almost-unbearable shock) we'll even like the same kinds of clothes.
___But this nap thing, it's more than all that. It's one facet of the Forbidden Fruit Syndrome. The busier our lives, the more luxurious are "non-essential" time-consuming endeavors.
___Like taking naps. Going on long walks with someone you love. And reading good books, working puzzles, playing board games with your children, cuddling on the couch with your One and Only.
___"And on the seventh day ..., God rested." God made the Sabbath--a day of rest, a day of worship, a day to change pace. Not forbidden, but expected.
___In this new year, I hope I'll have the wisdom to honor the Sabbath. Enjoy God's good creation. Maybe even take naps on Sunday afternoons. It's a lesson I learned from Lindsay.
___
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