Words of Hope: During the Watches of the Night
I am reading a memoir of a Russian interpreter who helped with the identification of the body of Hitler. The Russian officers and medical advisors identified his remains by his dental records and she carried his teeth for safe keeping.
In her memoir she recalled many severe and heart breaking images of war she encountered. She questions why the very first experiences while certainly not the worst, continue to be the most visceral and pregnant with meaning in her mind.
How sensitive we are in our naïveté. How easily we feel, we connect, we burn these images into the fabric of who we are.
It’s a colossal feat to navigate trauma like war whether in our homes, workplace or world.
The hours the body works to bring healing to these unconscious damaging emotions of fear and trauma most notably occur during the fourth watch of the night between 3am and 6am. Terror during this time is often associated with unresolved trauma waking us, unsettling us, terrifying us.
I think of the apostles on the water during a storm— the fourth watch of the night. They look and see Jesus walking on the water. They are terrified and believe He is a ghost.
Jesus tells them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
This response is exactly what dream research scientists recommend to say aloud as a way of reframing when encountering nightmares or night terrors.
During this time of uncertainty, war, worldwide fear, we need to hold these words dear and speak them often especially during the fourth watches of the night.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. –John 14:27
