Overconfidence

I witnessed something grand from my four year old today. He and his buddy were playing at the park. They were taking turns on the monkey bars. It was not easy for them. They were sweaty, red faced, and breathing hard! Ben had made it across a couple of times and his friend was getting very close. Ben mentioned proudly a few times that he had made it ALL the way across and I was thinking, "hush or you are going to hurt your friend's feelings." Soon though, his friend began to get really close to the other side. I was thinking to myself, "Oh, I hope Ben doesn't say something rude like, " I made it across first" or something like that. I should have given my son more credit. As his friend drew nearer and nearer to the other side, I hear Ben begin to yell, "You got it LUKE! You are doing it! You can do it!!!" And as Luke reaches the other side, Ben runs around to him, wraps him in a huge hug while yelling, "YOU are the Best LUKE! You did it! You did it!" Luke grinned ear to ear. And I began to cry, since I can no longer watch any act of kindness without tearing up. Apparently motherhood removes all control from the tear ducts. A couple of days before this I was tearing up again as this same son consoled a friend in preschool. Reminding his friend that preschool is fun and "lets go play together." So, here I am so proud of this sweet boy I have raised. And I am further feeling all proud as I relay to some friends about what a great strategy I have going with my kids at home during homework time. Feeling so in control and all set. But this is when the slap to the face comes. This is when you are hit with the truth of, "You can never let up." Letting up only means you mess up. I was a bad parent this evening. I won't go into it, but suffice it to say that I am not proud of my reactions and lack of patience that I exuded during my evening parenting. So, herein lies the lesson. We teach our children to always keep trying to do better - in sports, school, music.... Never should they feel they are the best at something. As you begin to believe that, that is when someone comes along and beats you at it. I believe it is so true in all things. It is when we believe we are so close to God, being just what he wants us to be, doing just what he wants us to do, that we realize we are being quite righteous and need to work on our humility! There is always something to work toward. Parenting will last forever. So we may as well keep trying forever. Keep working at it forever. And keep crying forever. Because it is worth it.