R-E-S-P-E-C-T

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Categorized as  raising boys,  respect,  winning, encouragement

Well, in the world of men, this little seven-letter word can be summarized in another little seven-letter word:  w-i-n-n-i-n-g. 

Here’s what happened.  Son number three, O He of the Stoic Expression, came home this week with a funny little story.  Apparently, he’d been teasing one of the “cool kids (his term, not mine)” at recess for a couple of days in a row.

(A quick explanation – this son, my 11-year-old, just doesn’t have the fear of the elites at school that one of his other siblings had as an 11-year-old.  They simply don’t intimidate him.  This makes me happy.  Real happy.)

Anyway, the CK got tired of his teasing and challenged him to a free-style wrestling match.  Now, this wasn’t an angry school-yard dustup kind of fight.  It was more of an, “Okay.  You’re getting on my nerves, so let’s see who the tough guy really is here.”  And my non-athletic, don’t-care-about-sports son beat him!

Just guess, won’t you, what it got him?  That R word in the title of this post.

You PC people can holler all you like.  That’s just how it is when it comes to guys. They make their mark and establish their dominance by winning at something. 

You’ll never believe what happened next.  The CK, who had just been defeated, said, “I think we need to have you join our group.  But…you’ll have to leave your other friends.”

Some kids who are easily intimidated by the popular crowd and who desperately aspire to be a part of the entourage would have said, “Sure!”

Not him.  He didn’t even blink at the offer.  When I queried him about it, he said without a moment’s hesitation, “It’s because I know what kind of guy he is.”

There you have it.  I have plenty of stuff to worry about with my kids.  They sin and mess up as much as yours do.  And the other kid in the match up?  He’s probably a very nice boy.  I do know that he’s another mother’s son.  So this isn’t really about him.  It’s just that sometimes God gives you a glimpse of the character He’s growing in your kids in spite of their mistakes and in spite of your own.  And that keeps you encouraged to keep planting, to keep praying, to keep investing…to keep your kids, in other words, instead of handing them off to an orphanage in Somalia.

And for that, today, this mother is grateful.

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