Most parents have had some experience with kids waking up with bad dreams at some point 
or another. If not bad dreams, then surely every parent has had to deal with invisible monsters 
hiding in the closet or under the bed. 

Recently my wife and I had a bout with our oldest son waking us out of the comfort of our warm 
bed to come into his room and scare off something that was fear itself. 

It was three in the morning and even though it can be the sweetest word on earth when you get
home from work, it is not so sweet when heard at three in the morning. 

"Daddy" 

I came into my son's room to see what the problem was. The first time it was, "I think I saw 
something." The second time it was, "I think I heard something." The third time it was, "I'm 
just scared." 

I had to get up early in the morning and go to work. I am a very patient man but my sleepiness 
was wearing my patience down. The wee hours of the morning had me delirious so I warned 
him, "If you call me one more time, I'm going to give you something to be afraid of." 
Two minutes later. 

"Daddy" 

I came into the room and staying true to my promise, even though it hurt my heart to do so, I 
gave him a tap on the leg; after all, I had to get some sleep. Walking back to my bed like a 
weary victor of war, I said, "It wasn't easy but that took care of that." Five minutes later. 

"Daddy" 

I lay in bed for a while at my wit's end on what to do, I had given up. 

I knew that if I went and slept in his room with him he would want me to do it every night that he
felt fear. I laid there basking in a feeling of stripped victory. In the stillness of the night, a light 
popped on in my head. 

It was a literal light. I saw a picture in my head of a flashlight. 

I immediately got out of bed, went to the hall closet, got the flashlight out and took it to my son's 
room. I handed it to him and told him "Light has a special power to make monsters go away, when 
you think you see or hear something just cut the light on and shine it in that direction and whatever 
it is will have to go away." 

I went back and got into bed with apprehensiveness against getting to sleep too soundly. I listened 
for about five minutes then I saw a circle of light shining in my son's room. I waited for that
demanding title of "Daddy," but all I heard was the stillness of the night. 

This same principle is true in the lives of adults. Many times, we are afraid of that which can really 
do us no harm. 

Our flashlight can be knowledge; most of the time we fear what we don't understand. As we become 
more enlightened on something that seems scary, peace will come. 

The light doesn't really chase away monsters living in the shadows, it just changes our eyesight to see
that the room, the business, the school, the marriage, and the assignment is not as scary as it looked 
without the light on. 

Whatever you are afraid of, shine some light on it.

By James Bronner