Let us watch and be sober, for it is possible to sleep while awake by doing nothing good. And if any one watches but is not sober, he will fall into numberless dangers. This drunkenness of the soul comes not from wine only, but from every vice, and it makes us see nothing in its true light. You ask prayer for safety, for good sleep, for guidance in an important meeting. These things depend not on another only, but on ourselves. The suffering depends then on ourselves, and not on any other. For if we will stand steadfast and unmoveable, we shall not be shaken. Come then, and let us lift up your burdens together, not with empty words but with the medicine of divine wisdom.
You cry out for your children and grandchildren to be enfolded in love and protection. Hear then what the Teacher shows us. Did He say at once, It is lawful, or It is not, when pressed with a hard question? No, He rendered the truth manifest by His argument, showing that not in opposition to His Father did He enjoin these things, but in full agreement. So too must you with your children. The healing of those relationships begins not with demands or laments but with a living demonstration. Do not sleep while awake, doing nothing good. Let them see in you a sober watchfulness, a life that is day and not night. For the night of vice makes us see everything as a dream, full of phantasy. Riches are a dream, and glory, and everything of that sort. But what is real? Spiritual, heavenly, abiding things. Draw them closer by drawing yourself closer to the One who is unchangeable. When you seek their safety, seek first that their souls be guarded. For what will it profit a sheep, however wise, to be among wolves, if it lacks the Shepherd? Pray that they be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, a wisdom that comes not from this world but from above.
You long for healing and restoration in these fractured bonds. This is no light matter, and it calls not for sentiment but for the hard work of reconciliation. Do not suffer your foot to be moved by pride or lingering resentment. The suffering depends on you. If you would have deeper fellowship, then be the first to cast off the drunkenness of wrath. I have seen many lie awake at night to pitiable purpose, plotting deceits, meditating enmity, raking up the smoldering embers of their anger. This is a sleep worse than any sleep, a watchfulness more ruinous than drunkenness. Cast it off. Is there some old wound, some bitter word, some debt of love unpaid? Do not wait. For the present life is full of dreams and flies away. What you think firm will soon recede. Only what is done for Christ and for love remains. Let your reconciliation be such a work, wrought in the daylight of a sober soul.
You ask for peace, for total safety, for calm thoughts and good sleep. You name the very things the soul loses when it is drunk with its own cares. For see, the vicious man is inactive with respect to virtue, and he sees everything as a vision. If he sees anything good, he has no firmness, no fixedness. Your thoughts churn in the evening because your heart has been drinking from broken cisterns all the day. You look to the meeting tomorrow and fear. You look to your family and ache. But where is God in these thoughts? Has He not foreordained before the worlds a hidden wisdom for your glory? Do you think your situation escapes His notice? The keeper of the prison woke to an earthquake and found his chains loosed; he fell down before the prisoners, asking, What must I do to be saved? He thought all was lost, and behold, deliverance stood before him. So it may be with you. Do not think the earthquake comes of itself. The doors open, the bonds are loosed, when God acts. Calm your mind by entrusting all to Him. Lie down as Peter slept when the angel came, knowing that the Lord keepeth Israel and shall neither slumber nor sleep. You cannot force sleep by anxious striving, but you can set the soul in order. Let your last thoughts be of His mercies, not your dangers.
Now this meeting weighs on you. You hope the other person will be an instrument of help. But observe a teacher's wisdom. When the Lord was approached with a question, He did not answer at once, lest they be disturbed. He unfolded the truth in due season. So must you go into that conversation, not with a script of your own devising, but with a quiet dependence on the Spirit. What is the wisdom you need? Not the wisdom of this world, which is coming to naught. The rulers of this age did not know it, or they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. The wisdom you require is God's wisdom hidden in mystery, the very thing He has prepared for those who love Him. Do not fret over what you will say. Ask instead that your own heart be right, that you speak truth in love, that you listen, that you do not seek your own advantage only. For men most honor what they perceive to be eldest and before all; show them therefore not cleverness but the presence of that divine grace which is unmixed with worldly cunning. Many are led like sheep by the wolf of pleasure or gain; let that not be said of you or of the one you meet. Pray that both of you be guided as instruments in God's hand, not as servants of your own wills.
For your children, your relationships, your own soul, the way forward is the same: rouse yourself from the sleep of this passing life. To be in the day depends on ourselves. It is in our power always to watch, to shut the eyes of the soul to wickedness. Sobriety is the intensity of watchfulness. When you have learned who speaks to you in the Scriptures, and hear His heavenly wisdom, then you shall know right well that these doctrines belong not to men but to the Divine power stirring the soul. Stand therefore in that power, not in your own. Let your prayer be not a list of fears but an offering of faith. You have asked for prayer, and prayer shall be made. But you too must contribute something on your own part, that all might not seem to be of His grace, nor you supposed to be crowned at random. Be wise. Be harmless. Watch. And whether in the meeting or in the quiet of your chamber, know that the hidden wisdom which God foreordained before the worlds is already yours in Christ. In that wisdom you have more than safety; you have glory prepared, if you will but walk as a child of the day.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
