Tween Trials

Well, today was a little disappointing. I had a talk with my son on the way to school. Now mind you, our "on the way to school" is about 30 minutes. We live outside of Austin and our children attend school in Austin. And anyone who lives here or has lived here knows that traffic on 35 is horrid at any given time of the day for that matter! But today the traffic was not too bad but the conversation wasn't really any better.

Long story short our son made a few comments that were very disheartening, he was disrespectful to an authority figure and according to him he didn't realize it. After we explained to him the possible ramifications of his words he then realized that what he said weren't just words.

Our son will soon be 13. He has been a straight "A" student all his school life. He is a very intelligent young man, he is funny, witty, friendly, charming.... He is everything a mom would want in a son. We are blessed that the Lord has entrusted him to us and I feel that we have done a good job in raising him so far. So, when stuff like this happens, which are far and few (very few) between, it kind of shocks us. My husband and I agree on what his punishment is but we are both left asking the same questions to each other...."why would he say that", "what was he thinking"? We've asked him and I feel he REALLY didn't see the severity of what he said. And if that's the case then we have some work to do. I know we will always have work to do when it comes to our children but some things shouldn't have to be retaught when they get to this age but we are learning also.

Our son is our first born and for almost 9 years it was just him and us and now that he's nearing his teenage years and he is having to share us with his two younger sisters. I've read enough books, listened to enough friends, gone to enough small groups to know that the tween and teenage years are critical. I just pray for continued wisdom and guidance from the Lord. I pray for the Lord to quicken our son's spirit. For that little voice in his head to be a little louder when it comes to making the right decision. And for us to listen to that little voice as well because had it not been for the Holy Spirit speaking (loudly) to me this morning, this very valuable and teachable moment would have been missed.