Trouble During Rest Hour
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)
The tall, harried woman loomed in our doorway, hands on her hips. “Debbie! What on earth are you doing?”
Stretched out on my bed in the dormitory for missionaries’ children in Nigeria, my body stiffened. I knew I was in trouble.
Earlier in the day, we first grade girls listened wide-eyed in the boarding school dining hall as the big sister outlined Rest Hour rules. “You have to stay in your room on your bed for two hours on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. On school days it’s only forty-five minutes. But if you disobey, you get smacked on the hand with a hairbrush.”
There are lots of confusing rules in this place. Dark thoughts whirled through my mind, as I swirled brown gravy through my mashed potatoes. Let’s hope I can remember everything I’m told. I sure don’t want to get punished.
Resting on our beds after lunch, my new roommates and I chatted in low voices to pass the time. Soon the auntie in charge walked by. Poking her head through our door frame she said sternly, “Girls, this is rest hour. You shouldn’t be talking.” Then she added, “I hope I don’t have to remind you again.” As she turned to leave, I noticed the wooden hairbrush in her right hand.
“Shhhh!” I whispered to my roommates. “Don’t anybody get us in trouble!”
“Okay, Okay!” the other girls promised. No one uttered another peep.
Dorm Rules Different from Home Rules
On our mission station in southern Nigeria, Mom didn’t make us lie on my bed in the heat of the tropical sun. She told me, “Play inside, quiet like a bunny, so you don’t wake Baby Grant.” I knew how to choose quiet toys.
Picking up Bonnie Sue and soft, cuddly Teddy, we started a private tea party, sipping ever-so-quietly, just like I did with Mommy back home.
The weary auntie shuffled by on the way to her apartment, her rounds completed. Pausing at our doorway, she caught my eye and I thought, I’m glad I’m being quiet like she told me.
I smiled at her. She frowned back, pinched her eyebrows together, and pointed the wooden tool at me.
“What on earth are you doing? You’re supposed to be sleeping, not playing!” Her tennis shoes squeaked on the cement floor as she strode to my bed.
“I warned you!” Her grating whisper sent a chill down my spine. “Hand me your toys.”
Whisking up Dolly and Teddy, she huffed. “Now I have to take these away.” Then she disappeared down the hall.
Why Was I in Trouble?
I fell back on my bed as a volcano erupted in my stomach. What did I do wrong?
From head to toe, my body quaked. They aren’t just toys; I need them to comfort me!
For the next half hour, I lay as still as I could, but my legs twitched and mind raced. How could she take my things? I followed the rules and was being quiet. That’s not fair!
At long last, a big sister called down the hall, “Rest hour’s over. Everyone up now!”
“What should I do?” I asked my roommates. Nobody answered and I wondered, Will I get a spanking?
Soon my friend Rebecca pointed out the auntie at the end of the hall.
Sidling up to her, my heart pounded. She looked awfully tall, up close. “How can I get my dolly and teddy back?”
“Follow me.” We marched down the hall to a small room with a large, brown wardrobe. Placing her hand on the doorknob, she turned to me, then lifted her pointer finger and shook it. “You know you need to sleep for the first hour. No talking, reading, or playing.”
Clarifying the Rules
Clasping my sweaty hands behind my back, I tried to stop their trembling. “I was being quiet.” I stared down at a smudge on her white sneakers. “I didn’t know I had to sleep.”
“Of course, you must,” she said. “But during the second hour you may read.”
She handed me my babies and snapped the cupboard door shut. I hugged them close, tears filling my eyes. “I’m sorry! I won’t be naughty again.”
As I scampered back to the first-grade hall, she called out, “No running in the dorm!” My pace slowed to long strides.
Heart pounding, I neared the safety of my room.
My friend Rebecca caught up with me and asked, “What happened? D’you get your stuff back?”
“Yes!” I smiled. “And I didn’t get the hairbrush.”
Latching her tiny arms around my waist, she hugged me tightly. “Oh, goody! You got lucky!”
“Whew!” I nodded and sucked in a big gulp of air. “Yes, I did!”
Looking Back
Was I wrong? Did I deserve that consequence? On my first day at KA I didn’t understand that rest hour meant lying still and attempting to sleep. It felt traumatic to have my security objects taken away, with no word of how or when they would be returned.
In that era, staff members were exhausted, overworked, and overwhelmed with caring for too many little children. Few of the dorm aunts and uncles had training for raising children.
This vignette isn’t meant to cast blame, nor issue blanket forgiveness. For the next few months, I’ll be combing through the Bible to clearly understand God’s view of sin and redemption. I’ll continue to share with you as I’m learning.
God’s truth is what sets us free – not simply thinking positively or changing perspectives. And I’m looking forward to finding more freedom.
Link It to Your Life
Was there a time in your life when you were wrongfully accused or punished? How has God shown compassion to you despite injustice in this world?
Prayer: Father, thank you that you care about my troubles, and you rise up to help me when life seems unfair.
My friend Conni (in the beige floral dress) with her lovely mom, siblings, and friends on move-in day at the dorms 1964
Photo courtesy of Conni Townsend
God’s truth is what sets us free – not simply thinking positively or changing perspectives Share on X
4 thoughts on “Trouble During Rest Hour”
I could feel your confusing shame—it’s so hard to feel unheard!
I spent too much of my life trying to get people to listen to me and hear my side of things, and often those people were never going to because they had a certain story already made up in their heads. Holding on to what I knew to be true and knowing God also knew what was true and was actually hearing me helped. Thankfully He doesn’t make up His own version about us like people can!
Thank you for that reminder, Julie, that God knows the true version of us, unlike people who can make up their own version, and stick to it! I’m so glad you and I are being heard now, by great friends. And we know we are heard and loved and valued by God most of all. xoxo
One night at KA I awoke in the middle of the night and had to go to the bathroom. When I entered the bathroom it was filled with several girls standing around chatting. The next thing I knew the dorm auntie came down the hall and everyone in the bathroom was told that they would receive punishment the next morning. I lay in bed all night dreading the coming morning and despite my explanation that I hadn’t been there to do anything but use the bathroom, I was punished.
Several years later, on the night before change sheet day, my room mates and I had stripped our beds to try to get a jump on the process of changing sheets for room check the next morning. The lights were off and we were supposed to be in bed but we were taking advantage of the sheets to pretend that we were Indian princesses wrapping beautiful saris around us. Just at that moment an Auntie who was on her day off came down the hall and caught us messing around. We were told to get back to bed. I can remember laying awake a good deal of the night wondering what punishment the morning might bring for I had certainly broken some rules. Imagine my surprise when I was given the gift of grace! Same place but a different side of the coin.
Recently, during another situation I was working through that dealt with discipline and what I and other decision makers had or had not done in a situation, I was discouraged because it felt like the truth wasn’t being seen and recognized. God encouraged me through a sermon where the preacher was talking about the Character of Christ revealed in the letters to the churches found in Revelations. He talked about how Christ says in those chapters that He is our dependable & eternal Witness. Even though I cannot publically share all the details of the situation, it was encouraging to know that in the end God will be a faithful and true witness to all of our actions. Perhaps, this is a truth about Jesus to cling to when thinking about unjust punishment.
Beth, I so appreciate your stories. Same place, different result. I can relate to that “up all night worrying” syndrome. It happens still today sometimes. But I love the Character of Christ you shared from the church letters in Revelation. He is our dependable, eternal, faithful and true Witness to all our actions, and he strengthens and establishes us when we are hurt. And he has taken on himself the penalty for our own unjust actions. Thank you so much for sharing your heart. This has blessed me immensely, Sister!