Monday night my eldest son went to his first rock concert. He is only eleven. However, he went with his dad and several other men from our church. And it was U2. It's hard to go wrong with U2.
So, as you can imagine, he was up late. As in he didn't get to bed until 2:30, which meant he got 4 hours of sleep that night.
So, as you can also imagine, last night we wanted him in bed early. This didn't go over well with Jack who assured us - by whining and sulking - that he wasn't tired and didn't need to go to bed early. In the Saxon house, whining and sulking are the absolute fastest ways to an early bedtime, so things weren't looking good for Jack.
I was really getting annoyed that he continued to ask and beg to stay up after I had repeatedly told him to go to bed. Since he's getting older, I decided to take the approach of reasoning with him. Our conversation went like this:
Me: Jack, let me ask you a few questions. First, do I love you?
Jack: Yes.
Me: Do I always want what's best for you?
Jack: Yes.
Me: Now here's the tricky one.... think before you answer: Do I know what's best for you MORE than you do?
Jack: [slumping and barely audible] Yes.
Me: Ok then. Please go to bed without arguing with me. I want you to always remember that I love you and I will ALWAYS look out for your best interest. I need you to trust my decisions, even when you don't agree with me or like what I have to say.
Hmmmm... could this be a lesson that MOM needs to learn as well? I couldn't help but think of how many times the Lord has had this conversation with me. It's amazing how perfectly clear it is when I'm NOT the one on the receiving end.
So, hopefully I have a little more TRUST in my Lord and a little more GRACE for my son.
2 comments:
Great point...one that this MOM needed to hear, too!
I love your posts....you need to 'share' with us more often. :)
Happy Autumn, my friend. I think of you so often and the morning you stood at the end of my driveway, just breathing in the New York air.
Come again soon.
Judy
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