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I sank into bed, the alarm set for 4 a.m., grateful for my wife's offer: "I'll get the children ready for bed tonight." But as I reached to turn off the light, a little face met mine.

"Draw me a picture, Daddy."

I was about to call my wife to rescue me—but changed my mind. All she wants is a picture. A kitty. A doggie. Five seconds work.

"Get me a paper and pen," I told her. Then I closed my eyes.

"Wake up, Daddy." I pulled my hand out from under the blankets as my daughter handed me a sheet of stickers from a direct mail piece offering nine CDs for a dollar.

She turned it over to the glue side. "Draw me a picture."

I sat up. "I need a pen, Honey."

She marched off, filled with three-year-old independence, to find my trousers. I could hear her jingling my keys and change in the pockets-once, twice-but in a few minutes, I heard sobs. She had turned up empty-handed.

"Shhh. Daddy will find you a pen," I comforted her. "And we'll get better paper, too."

A half hour later she was asleep, but I was awake in the darkness. Our little child had tried to do a grown-up task, and found herself not quite up to it.

So it is, I thought, with us and God.

Sometimes God doesn't move on our behalf until we have tried and failed—maybe once, maybe more. What we can always be sure of is that he never takes lightly tears shed from a sincere heart.

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