the mouth of babes...

Dylan has been doing very well since he transitioned back to public school, following Christmas break. The biggest difficulty, though, is with his art teacher. He has art every Wednesday, and he goes to bed on Monday and Tuesday with a building sense of dread. He hasn't exactly had a problem with this teacher, he is just afraid of her. He says she's REALLY mean and impatient.

Last week, leading up to Wednesday, he prayed for a good art class and asked Jen and I to pray specifically for that. When Wednesday came, he had a good day because his teacher "was in a good mood". Again this week, he is following the same pattern, but he shared with me this evening that he feels the Lord has brought this into his life as a test. He felt that it was a test to see if he would trust God to help him in this situation. He told me that the Lord answered his prayer because his teacher was nice last week.

While I was really excited (and maybe a little surprised) about his mature perspective, I felt the need to redirect him slightly. I didn't want him to think that every time he prays, the trouble will be removed. Trying not to burst his bubble, I gently reminded him that God always answers our prayer, but he doesn't always answer it in the way that is the easiest, or most desirable. I told him that sometimes he might pray for art class and still have a rough day. He got it, and questioningly finished the thought for me... God might instead give him the strength to go through a difficult day?

Although I, the Dad, gently redirected my 8 year old son, he didn't realize that I learned the bigger lesson from the conversation. Although I have prayed about the difficulty of my unemployment, I'm not sure I view the trial through as mature eyes as my son viewed his trial. Oh, intellectually, I know all this, but, being the adult that I am, I tend to pray and then go try to make things happen in my own strength. My son, instead, prayed and then actually trusted the God of his prayers to help him "pass the test". Thank you Dylan, for reinforcing this powerful lesson.

As he asked me tonight at bedtime to pray for art class tomorrow, and asked me to also pray for him while he was at school tomorrow, the second lesson that was reinforced was the importance of diligently uplifting my kids in prayer. Oh, I pray for them, but not always as diligent as I should. I promised him that I would pray for him while he is at school, but I also made a mental note to take this particular aspect of fatherhood much more seriously. He's counting on me to be in his corner, and I want him to be able to confidently know that I've got his back and I'm supporting him with prayer.