This has been an interesting week. It's only Wednesday and I have already driven for 9 hours over 2 days, spent those days closed up in the car with 5 boys, 6 if you count J, had dinner at Charlotte motor speedway, toured the Billy Graham library, toured the country's largest private home, and then quit my job. No teenager was hurt in the making of this road trip and no one needs to start me a legal defense fund.......... yet.
You learn a lot about people when you road trip with them. Now you would think, since it's my own kids that I'm talking about I would know the pretty well by now. However, I am convinced that when a child turns 13 aliens sneak into your house during the night and take over their body. The creature that slinks from the bedroom in the morning bares little resemblance to the sweet child you tucked into bed. Their brains no longer function as they should and their language needs a translation dictionary to be understood. I am convinced these aliens actually communicate by rolling their eyes as your child will suddenly become very skilled at it. Given that 3 of my 5 boys are currently possessed by these intergalactic invaders and 1, while no longer officially a teenager, has not yet completed the exorcism process, you can imagine there is a lot to learn.
I try to look at any time forced to spend in close quarters with my offspring as research, studying the creatures in the wild, in their natural habitat. It is fascinating to see how they interact with each other, not as they meet at a common water hole, but as they meet over the nearest electronic device. I am convinced that what we see as a common cell phone is actually their powerful energy source. Think about it, have you ever seen one without it in their hands??? It would seem that when sleeping is the only time you see one without a phone in their hands. In crisis situations, a computer will act as the same source of power for them, but the portability of the phone allows them to easily roam around spreading their surliness.
Do I sound bitter? I'm not. I'm frustrated, but not bitter. I love my children, all my children, even those who are currently serving as a host to the brain sucking parasite known as adolescence. It's a difficult time of life, as I'm sure we can all remember. We can learn a lesson from our kids as they struggle through it. I find there are ways I can really identify with them. No, I do not suddenly has an insane desire for Mt Dew, or strange music, or Ramen noodles. What I do understand is the feeling of being trapped between two worlds, no longer a kid, not yet an adult. I mean this in a spiritual sense. I am not what I once was, but I'm not yet what I will be. I haven't arrived, but I have already left.
The Lord continues to work on me, changing me and bringing me more into line with what He desires for me to be, but I still struggle with my carnal nature. I think Paul said it best in Romans 7:15
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
It's as if I, too, have a parasitic visitor inside messing with my head. I have seen the struggles my kids have had as they moved in that gray area of half adult/ half kid and I see those same struggles mirrored in my own life as I make the transition from living in the flesh to living by the spirit.
The Lord is gracious to me in those times of struggle. He understands our frailty, our human-ness, our tendency to mess things up. He is the ever patient parent, leading us on that path to maturity that seems to take so much longer for some than for others! (don't judge! I'm getting there!) Just like with our natural development, I believe one sign of maturity is the willingness to admit we don't know everything, we don't have all the answers, and we become willing to be taught. That is my desire this week, a teachable heart, a spirit ready for instruction.
Where are you in your walk? Are you still in the know-it-all stage or have you moved into being more willing to listen than to talk? Pride is the hallmark of so many teenagers today. Is there spiritual pride in your heart? Are you willing to allow the Lord to use whomever He desires to instruct you?
This week I'm asking the Lord for a spiritual growth spurt! I'm asking Him to take me beyond my spiritual teenage years once and for all and move me into a new level of maturity with Him. Will you join me?
I don't know about you, but my body is too old to withstand the rigors of the teenage lifestyle! I need my sleep, my veggies, my peace and quiet. So until next time, I'll be here, being a mom and keeping my eyes peeled for UFOs. I've still got one at home under the age of 13 and I'm holding out hope the little green men don't find him too soon!
Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor
