I felt like supermom!

Last night I had one of those rare moments when I KNEW why I'm not a career woman and more of a housewife/mom than a professional. I'm not saying that if I was a full time working professional that this conversation wouldn't have happened but for me to have the time to "hang out" with my kids builds the relationships that makes my kids comfortable with having these kinds of conversations. Gabe had had a hard day at school. He was tired and his blood sugar probably wasn't at the right level and he was really feeling down. Gabe freaks out at night if I don't pray with him before he goes to sleep and last night he needed to "talk" before we prayed. We talked about how we as Christians can react when people are mean to us. He asked me if I had ever had friends be mean to me. I told him that as a child I had grown up in a very strict religious organization that meant my only friends to the age of 14 were contained in this exclusive religious group. At 14 my family left the organization and all my friends except one that had already left refused to speak to or have any contact with me. I told him that I had learned a couple of things. One that Jesus is always with you and always your friend. I told him that Jesus says that he loves us and that he says we are worthwhile people therefore what others say although hurtful isn't the truth. I told him that he needed to remember that his friends weren't perfect and he needed to forgive them. I said you know, "God promises that once you've asked Him into your heart he will work on you for your entire life to make you more like Him." I said, "God is not going to let your friends continue to do mean things like call you names for their entire lives. He will be faithful to show them that their actions are wrong and they will someday be sorry they treated you that way. But you also need to remember that God forgave you your sins and hurtful actions before you ever asked him to so you should forgive your friends now even if they don't tell you they are sorry." There is nothing like being able to be there and speak truth and character building lessons into your child at the exact moment when they are open and vunerable to such lessons. I pray that he will remember this things later when the hurts from friends can go much deeper than name calling and athletic ablility put downs. I want my children to be sensative to others but have a strenght of self confidence that comes from their value in God not a false puffed up self importance or a bad self image that comes from the lies of this world. I realize that most of the times that I feel like I'm doing something right isn't when "I" have got it right it is the rare times I'm really allowing God to speak through me and not letting "ME" get in the way.