Good Job, Mom!

I was talking with a friend about her 14-yr-old son’s repeated habit of making his siblings late to school in the morning. It seems he’d been spending nearly 30 minutes every morning primping in front of the mirror. Today the predetermined consequence went into play: He forfeited his ride and missed a morning of school.

After the house emptied out she figured their conversation would begin by helping him devise a morning “Time Management” plan -- when she suddenly felt the Lord tell her, “No…go deeper.” So she thought she’d talk to her son about why he didn’t like the way his hair looked, when she was prompted, “No, go even deeper.”

That’s when it began to dawn on her that the real problem had nothing to do with either the clock on the wall OR his hair: rather, standing before her was an adolescent who was painfully aware that he didn’t look perfect on the outside...and it hurt.

Instead of a one-sided lecture, they spent time opening the Scriptures together that morning. She directed her son to several verses that outlined his eternal significance to the One and Only Maker of the Universe. Wow, talk about a teachable moment (and it was certainly worth missing morning Algebra class!)

I stand and applaud this mom. She did it right.

It makes me think about the dozens, literally hundreds, of unnoticed occasions that you moms DO get it right: you take a deep breath and smile when you could rightfully get angry….you wrap your arms around that daughter when you desperately feel like throwing them up in despair…. you put down the dishtowel and listen even though it makes dinner late....and on and on it goes.

Why then, do we so often concentrate on what we do WRONG as moms? Stop and think for a moment. If you’re honest, I’ll bet you, too, can think of something you actually did right today. And if not – you know what? There’s still time.

Good job, Mom. God sees, and smiles upon you.