Will You Watch Me?

Our pastor included this story in his Christmas Eve sermon, and I liked it.

A couple weeks before Christmas, a little six-year-old boy had just lost his mother, and both he and his father were devastated.  One night shortly before Christmas Eve, the boy asked if he could sleep in his dad's room with him.  His dad let him, but as they tried to fall asleep, they couldn't.  They both kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, the little boy thinking about his mother, and the father thinking about his wife.

Finally, the little boy turned to his dad and asked, "Dad, will you watch me?  I think if you watch me I'll be able to fall asleep."

"Yes, I'll watch you," the dad answered, and soon his son fell asleep.  But the dad still couldn't fall asleep.  Slowly, he got out of bed, walked to the window and pulled back the curtain. Staring up at the sky, to God, he asked, "Dad, will you watch me?  If you watch me, I think I'll be able to fall asleep."

And in the darkness, the answer came to him like a whisper.  "Yes, son, I'm watching you, and I'll never leave you."