Dream

I had a rough day with one of my little people today. My R has always had a very strong, vocal personality. He inherited my love of justice and thinks quite logically for someone his age. As a result, he is the child that 'talks back' frequently.

I honestly don't think he intends to be disrespectful, he just wants to understand and debate my decisions. While I am generally a fan of explaining things to my children, I am human. I am flawed. I get worn down and it flies all over me to be questioned about my every decision. And, yes, I do sometimes resort to the dreaded, "I am the Mommy" response.

I will spare you the details, but we had a showdown before school this morning over the fact that I wouldn't allow him to bring a toy in the car. (We were already late. The other two were already out the door without a toy. I have an established rule about toys in the car being restricted to days when we are all ready ahead of our departure time.) It was really not up for negotiation in my mind.

So, R simply refused to get in the car. He camped out on the stairs inside--arms crossed in full pout mode. K & P were already buckled in and it was beyond time to leave. I calmly informed R that his choices were going to result in the loss of screen time. This prompted a very emotional response from him. That response resulted in the loss of more screen time. Unfortunately, by the time we got out of the driveway R had lost two afternoons of 'screen time.'

Thankfully, by the time we got a couple of blocks from the house we were back on track.
"I was just so angwy, Mom. I weally wanted to bring my tiger."
We had a little chat about it being OK to be angry--the trouble was when we sin in our anger.
Then I asked him another question, "Was bringing your tiger on the 5 minute drive to school worth losing an hour of screen time?"

He was quiet. He hadn't thought of that.

I was reminded again of the kitten in the tree. Then I thought of Eve and the fruit of that tree. We are battling a cunning Adversary. One of his greatest tricks is to get us so wrapped up in the here-and-now that later is not even on our radar screen. But don't be fooled--later WILL come.

I am on such a soapbox about this because I am currently surrounded by lives that are in complete turmoil because of this lust for the instant gratification and perceived ease of going for what feels good right now. I am not anti-pleasure or happiness by ANY stretch of the imagination. I am just pro-wisdom, self control, peace and joy.

I think this is why the new Katy Perry song drives me so crazy. As evidenced by its popularity, her 'teenage dream' resonates with people. They, too, want the carefree life of being young and irresponsible, getting 'drunk on the beach' going to a motel and...

I absolutely hate that the cute, sweet high school girls I know and love are beebopping down the road reciting those lyrics with gusto. I hate that the 'dream' Katy Perry is selling is, more often than not, going to be a nightmare of brokenness, shame, humiliation and lifelong emotional consequences. I wish the 'dream' could be one of laughter, innocence, purity, joy, peace, a desire for a fulfilling marriage and s*x the beautiful way it was intended to be...

I am well aware the world categorizes my thoughts as a prudish, washed up, Bible-beating housewife's dream. Why do we allow the Enemy to portray Christians as anti-everything instead of pro-love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control?

Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

>sigh<

It is late. I will dismount my soapbox. :-)