The night my son gave up
October 28, 2009
At five, my son is quickly learning the ways of the world when it comes to dealing with others. It’s a necessary skill. Maybe the most necessary.
He knows that a crying fit will likely get him nothing but a slap on the rear, and he knows he can sweet talk his mother into just about anything he wants. He also knows his father is a much tougher sell. I’m not much on sweet talking. So with me he tends to approach things from a more practical standpoint.
“Dad,” he said the other day, “I think I need a knife because you have a knife and I wanna be like you.”
So he got a knife. Plastic, of course. But still one that’s worthy of both his father and MacGyver.
He’s slick, I tell you. Very.
The way to deal with God has come much harder for my son, mostly because he can’t seem to figure out how to get what he wants. I’ve spent the last few weeks as a spectator to this getting-to-know-you process. I’m not butting in. Not yet. Some things are best learned on your own, even when you’re a kid…
I’m at highcallingblogs.com today, and if you’d like to read more, just follow this link. I’ll see you over there. Have a great day, everyone!
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12 Responses to “The night my son gave up”
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I’m a writer whose first novel, Snow Day, will be published by FaithWords in 2010.
But don’t let that fool you. I’m just as confused as anyone.
And that is fine with me, because the great thing about wandering around in the fog is that you never know what you might run into.
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What an awesome blog! As a mother of two daughters…now teenagers…I can certainly appreciate not only the humor…because let’s face it, kids can be pretty slick… but the wisdom in letting your son work some things out.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by billycoffey: My column for @HighCallingBlogs: Surrendering isn’t giving up ~ http://bit.ly/3EmG3K…
Wow. Very nice. When you wrote, “God calls us to surrender. He never calls us to give up.” you hit the nail on the head. Never give up, just give over. Give to Him. Let him drive the car. Gosh that’s hard sometimes. Thanks for this post. Very much needed for me in my life right now.
So much of our prayer time is taken up trying to get our way with God. Only after a long walk along the adventure of prayer does one realize that it all begins with a focus on Him…climb up beside Him and look out over the things that you are about to pray about. With that perspective, only the right stuff will remain and with that vantage point somtimes we begin to see that what we were just about to ask Him for might not have been best.
You always make me think Billy!
Ah Billy,
What wise words you always capture for the heart of a parent in the simplicities that you encounter each day in your life. I smile as I got to the bottom and realized just how truthful it all really is.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
out of the mouth of babes, huh?
I need to surrender more.
I like your writing style and I support Christian men who write, it’s a nice change in perspective. Good job!
Thank God for Alisa Hope Wagner, she has an interesting blogroll and through Faith Inspired, I’m discovering new bloggers. That’s how I found you. Keep it up! congratulations on your novel forthcoming.
Fantastic picture of the difference between surrender and giving up. Thanks! Write on!
This really got to me… I needed to hear this. Thank you!
Surrendering is a daily process and never easy. Way too often “I want to just give up!”
When will I ever realize that God’s way is the BEST way?!!!
Billy – you are truly a wonderful father and because it will help your children chose to run into the arms of their Father in heaven!
Blessings,
Jill
Billy, oh, don’t you just love seeing faith unfold in your children? I really think he gets it as much as he needs to for the moment. To him, “give up” is just as good and true as your “surrender.” As a mother of five children, I never fail to be amazed at how God reaches me through my children, and how He shines his light into theirs, with or without my presence. We are parents more for what we learn from our children than what we do for them. They help lead us to heaven, even if we have occasional tantrums before getting there.