The morning was easy, he was great, and super excited to get to school. No arguments about brushing teeth, getting dressed, not a thing. So proud of him. He even had a great first day in a completely new place! It's the first year he and his daddy have been in the same building during the day.
The evening was great, too. No big deal, no major meltdowns. Not here, not at school.
Since he's in a new school, and we had to drive by the old one to get there, he did say "You will turn!" when we passed the place we've turned for the last five years to take him to school.
He didn't complain when we had to stop and talk to the nice sheriff's deputy who had to stop me to let me know I couldn't turn down the place I thought I would. Meh, okay, so I have to back up to start in the mile-long line. Cool.
Fast forward to the afternoon, and I'm in the place he described. Turns out he was wrong. I waited for close to thirty minutes to get to where I needed to be to get Ryan after school, and it just wasn't getting better. Finally, I just parked and got out, walking to where my boy stood with his faithful (and very patient with clueless mothers) teacher.
Turns out all I had to do was go another way. It's not hard. It's quite easy! Today I was able to both drop off and pick Ryan up with such ease.
With the right information, things are a lot easier.
There's been a lot of talk about an unfortunate choice in performance by a certain young woman lately. Along the way, somewhere, she got some bad information. She bought into it, and now there she is.
I've done the same thing.
Okay, so on a much less world-rocking stage, yes. My own pains are here, in my own house, and before, in my own apartment. My own mistakes are just as bad, they're just not advertised. Yes, you can argue that she's under a far greater scrutiny and therefore has a greater responsibility to be, well... perfect. But there's just one problem... she can't.
I also can't. I can't brag that my daughter or sons will never do anything wrong, either. They do not wear halos, nor do I. I've done a lot worse and embarrassing than take the wrong route, causing me to swim upstream through hundreds of cars.
So, while I'm shocked at the behavior that, thankfully, I've only seen still photos of, I'm more saddened than shocked that this is such big news. As a believer in the need for and the power of the gospel of Christ, I hope I'll take this and all the surrounding talk and not only concentrate on teaching my daughter and sons respect for themselves and others, but also keep teaching them that they will never do anything that will make me stop loving them, and that it is never their place to point fingers and talk about how much better they are than someone else.
I hope our kids will grow up not seeing that they can be oh-so-much better than others, but that we all are on the lowly, level playing field of depravity and only by the grace and mercy of Christ are we made acceptable.
Thanks be to God for the right directions, and for grace and mercy for the ways I ignore them every day.
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