My son is in such a friendly stage right now. He recently discovered that waving at someone causes them to smile, and wave back - amazing! Our trips to the grocery story are down right comical if not slightly embarrassing. I’ve started to think that he is secretly tallying up the number of people he can get to wave back to him as if trying to beat the number from the week before. Up until yesterday, he had an amazing track record for turning the grumpiest-looking people into happy, baby-talking, ‘googlers’ (as I call them).Yesterday was different though because as we walked down the long aisle of paper towels and sandwich bags, a man approached our cart, looked at my waving son and kept walking without a response. My son instantly looked at me with a puzzled look and then strained to his right to look around me at the man as he walked away still waving just as eagerly as before. He watched until the man was out of sight and then looked at me with big puppy dog eyes and his hand cocked to the side like, “What happened?” I kissed his sweet head then waved back at him as exuberantly as I could which pacified him until he found his next instant friend.
In the long run, the moment probably had little if any long term effect on him but it affected me because it made me realize all of the heartbreaking lessons he has yet to learn. Granted, having someone not return a friendly wave isn’t big in the grand scheme of things but I know it is just the beginning of some very painful life lessons. I know that if I could prevent him from enduring the heartbreak that he will inevitably endure I would, but in my heart of hearts I know that those lessons are necessary for his emotional and spiritual growth and that they will ultimately play a role in the kind of man, husband, and father that he becomes.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Romans 5: 3-4
Romans 5: 3-4
Your thoughts?
5 comments:
It always makes me sad when people don't respond to Riley's sweet "hi"...I never understand why it wouldn't make you smile. I will wave at your little man anytime!
Thanks for the dinner...it was YUMMY!
He has the best smile!
I honestly never really thought ahead of how life will affect my little guy and how hard life really can be no matter how big or small the disappointment seems. We will just have to be there and be strong for our little ones. Thank you for this blog!
Hey, Meagan! It's hard to those little ones encounter those first difficult times. When I'm coaching gymnastics I see young girls work so hard and still get disappointed and frustrated sometimes, but I know that in the end they'll be stronger people for it. I guess the tough skin is necessary, but it's a tough process.
Megan- Hi! Good piece there. Lots to think about. People aren't always going to react favorably to us all the time. It's sad but true. I'll wave at and talk to him anytime!
God bless you!
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