The Light That Never Sleeps

The house is quiet now, but your ears are wide open, straining for the one shift in rhythm that means everything is changing. You are convinced that if you close your eyes, even for a moment, you will miss the signal.

That the silence will stretch too long. That you will fail the one who depends on you.

This is the heavy math of the watch — the belief that your exhaustion is the only thing standing between life and loss. But listen — there is a keeping that does not sleep.

A presence that holds the breath you are so afraid to lose. You are not the only one awake in this room.

The light does not slumber, and it has not left the bedside. It is holding what you cannot hold forever.

You were made to rest, not to be the final guardian of a life that was never yours to sustain alone. Close your eyes.

The One who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. You can let go.

The breath is already held.