Nite Nite Red Light

Through the tall pines I could see the red light blinking on and off in steady rhythm. It would start out as a faint red glow then increase in intensity until it was brighter than any other light in the sky. Closing one eye would make it disappear between the branches of the trees, then just as suddenly reappear when both eyes were opened. My vantage point was my bedroom before I lay down to sleep. The windows of the room lifted high allowing the cool night air to flow through the house pulled in by the attic fan. My older sister told me the red light was God, and I believed her until I was six years old. I would get down on my knees, fold my hands in prayer and pray to the blinking light in a way only a child knows how to pray, a prayer of complete faith and trust. I would end each prayer with the same sign off to God, “Nite-nite red light.” I still say it occasionally even now a half century later.
Someday I hope I can return to that same bedroom window with my grandchild and tell them about the red light, faith, trust, and God. How a radio tower beacon brought religion to my world in Mississippi through a stand of tall pines.