Kids and the spiritual realm

Those of you who know me or who have been reading this blog for a while know that I tend to put more stock in the, ah, spirit world than the average person. I've been fascinated by ghost stories and ESP and visions and all that stuff since I was a little kid - LONG before I got all churchy. I wouldn't necessarily recomMEND this particular fascination, as it tends to get you a long of long looks and skeptical stares and churchy people telling you that your attention is better directed elsewhere, but whatever. Some people are Civil War buffs, I read about Marian apparitions. 

AND ALSO I have, over the course of my thirty-two and a half years, had my own experiences, learned about the experiences of others, read a lot, written a lot, prayed a lot, and you know, this is just a Thing I am going to Go With, at this point. As far as I know, none of the Christian religions deny the fact that one day you could be standing in your bathroom brushing your teeth right next to Something Other Worldly. (This actually happened to a friend of mine, according to her roommate who could see spirits.) (Just go with it.) 

But still, you don't really talk about it. If you DO, it's generally in a positive sense. Ie: babies are talking to angels, blah blah blah. I would love that, by the way. I hope that's true. 

Then again, last night Molly started crying around three in the morning and when I went into her room to see what was up, she informed me that there was a snake under her table. 

There was, in case you are wondering, no snake under her bedside table. I told her so. 

"But I see it."

"No, honey, there's no snake. You had a bad dream."

"It's looking at me, Mommy."

So. If you are a NORMAL person, you shush the child back to sleep, chalk it up to nightmares, and go back to bed. If you are ME, you try to figure out if the kid is REALLY seeing a snake or if she just DREAMED about a snake and is feeling the lingering effects. Then you shush the child back to sleep, but when you get up to leave and she says, "Don't go, the snake is on the wall", you stay there and pray until the child falls back asleep. Then you go back to your room and pray some more because SNAKES ARE NOT A GOOD THING TO SEE.

(I saw a snake once when I was praying. It was bad news.)

I should say I don't remember either of my kids talking this way before. Seeing stuff, saying it's still there when you tell them there's nothing there... definitely not a trend or anything.

What is a trend: night terrors. We've been dealing with night terrors a lot. I know they are night terrors because when I finally brought it up with the pediatrician, every single symptom was textbook. Waking in the first part of the night, not really present, weird movements, inability to put them back to sleep until they're ready or out of it. In fact, "acting like they're possessed" is an apt description and accepted by my doctor! After my years of figuring out anxiety and coming to the realization that your brain chemistry really CAN screw you up, it makes perfect sense to me that a night terror would be a purely biological thing, stimulated maybe by images before going to bed at night or not winding down properly or what have you. Even if, yes, a night terror is kinda what I would think possession looks like! 

I am not saying Molly really did see a snake and I am not saying night terrors are anything other than Weird Crap Kids Do, but I can't say I don't THINK about the other POSSIBILITIES. I mean, it just makes sense to me that small children would be closer to all of that stuff. Closer to God, closer to the holy spirit, closer to anything else that's out there. 

Gah now you guys are all MAGGIE HAS LOST HER MIND. 

But seriously, you guys. What would YOU think about the snake under the table?

Comments

[Charlotte]

Snake. I would totally think snake. I would treat it in a very Santa Clausy way in neither confirm nor deny its existence to the child, but snake. For I am old and superstitious and have had to spend large quantities of time in the stacks of an ancient library where STUFF HAPPENED.

Also, I'm reading "The Little Stranger" so that might somewhat influence my snake verdict.

[Arwen]

Here's what I think: could be a small child's overactive imagine. On the other hand, could be demons. My guess is that it's some combination of the two.

I took a spirituality class in college where we studied a book written by the chief exorcist at the Vatican (my teacher did not even make us read it, just taught some lessons based on it, because he said it was terrifying). It really opened my eyes to the realities of spiritual warfare on earth. We happily believe in guardian angels, after all - the demons are the other half of the truth about supernatural activity that surrounds us. It's scary, but also - our professor was careful to emphasize - not scary, because Christ has already conquered Satan and all his minions. We simply have to invoke his power against them.

(I just reread that paragraph and realized that it will sound totally crazy to a lot of people. Yikes. But I firmly believe it and believe it's worth talking about - the demons' strongest weapon is our insistence on denying their existence.)

I wish I could write more now, because I'd rather not link to my own blog (that's such a jerky move, right?) but I want to include this - the story of how prayer, and specifically prayer against the demons, helped conquer Camilla's nighttime fear. I recently looked back at this piece and realized that in the long term this approach has made a dramatic difference in our lives. Try it and see if it helps, maybe? I describe it in this piece:

http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/features/praying_away_the_scary

[Kristina]

Oh my. I am SO totally into the paranormal - and like you, I feel a bit like a freak for it, but I think A LOT of people are. It's fascinating and of course what happens to us after we die is an age old mystery and I think it's pretty natural to be fascinated by it.

I think that the snake thing would make me think overactive imagination, but that's just me. However, when my babies or my dog start talking/barking into a corner I freak out and totally believe that there is something there.

Also, I would love if you did a post on your ghost stories. I have some good ones and would love to share!

[Salome Ellen]

When our kids were little, we had a stock response to the scary things they "saw?" -- "Things I'm scared of, GO AWAY, in Jesus name, Amen." That pretty much covered all the possibilities...
(And we did have a friend whose daughter was scared of "the dark outside the window." Which would be normal at night, but the dad looked out and HE saw the dark whatever-it-was. And he was not overly imaginative at ALL.)

[Meghan]

OK, this isn't really on topic, but did I ever mention I worked at the Pentagon for a little over two years in an office that had to be rebuilt cause of the unfortunate plane incident?
The bathrooms, which were on the third floor and exactly where the plane when in, were clearly haunted. I also went with it. Made friends with the ghosts who lived there, talked to them, in a friendly greeting sort of way. I wasn't scared of them. But is was so clear to me that that's what it was. So so many people died, not just in that place, but in that spot. Anyway.
Night terrors. No fun. Also watch out for later sleep disorders. It's apparently a sticking between phases of sleep. You get stuck in non-REM and your mind has to force you out of it. Or at least I read that somewhere. Or the other way around. Anyway, lots of things online to read about it. I have them. They suck. Mine are spiders. Always the same type scenario, a spider of varying size "getting" me in the place and at the time where I actually am. Sucks. Terrifying. Sorry for the kiddo who is having this.

[Meghan]

Also, it might be clear, I am totally open about this and I def get the feeling that some peeps thinks I am crazy. W/ev.