Right now, it seems downright ridiculous to me that going into the trip to Orlando my primary concern was the weather. It never occurred to me that I would have to deal with a rebellious attitude in my firstborn son. His distressing behavior manifested itself in three areas: (1) Talking back. Constantly. (2) Questioning every directive. (3) Expecting all activities to revolve around his desires. Perhaps you’re thinking this behavior sounds normal? My son is five. Not yet in Kindergarten. I expected this at thirteen, not five.
This phase (I hope) in my son’s conduct is especially troubling to me for two reasons. First, my son has always been a very good child by anyone’s standard. His current conduct often seems that of a whole other person. He isn’t himself. I have on several occasions stopped what I was doing and prayed against the work of the enemy in him because he seemed downright possessed.
The second cause for distress is what my experience with my son is teaching me about myself. Observing his conduct and feeling my reaction to it have been an ongoing opportunity for the Holy Spirit to reveal to me my own rebellious tendencies, how my rebellion makes God feel, and why I need to be disciplined. For someone who already has a tendency to beat herself up over her sin (another vestige of my Arminian past), this has been very hard to take.
In addition to the trouble with my son, I severely underestimated the importance to my emotional well-being of the two hours to myself I usually have daily from around 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. My husband is an early riser, and I am a night owl. I make myself go to bed around 11:00 because I know that is what I have to do to get adequate rest. The time I have to myself each night while the house is quiet and still is very important to me, but I had no idea how important it was until I went without it for four days straight. Four people in a standard hotel room—two of whom are five and two—does not a “vacation” make.
All of this emotional stress, and I had been concerned about the weather! It was very good, by the way. Lower nineties. Moderate humidity. Afternoon thundershowers to cool things off. Couldn’t have been better by July in Florida standards. Thank you for your prayers!
My husband spent some time researching the best strategy for tackling Disney World, and his work paid off. We arrived when the park opened at 9:00, and everyone was ready to go by 2:00 when the afternoon thunderstorms were approaching. We never stood in line for more than ten minutes. The kids enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, but I think they would have been just as happy to have spent the morning at the hotel pool. This is no ordinary pool—big shallow area for small children, slide, fountains, lazy river. I highly recommend the hotel. It’s not on the Disney property, but it takes ten minutes max to get to the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
As usual, I am glad to be home. Returning from traveling regardless of the circumstances always makes me thankful for my home. I still have a lot to think and pray about regarding what I learned, but for now, I must do laundry.
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Welcome back! It has been my experience that no matter the age, kids believe that the world revolves around them. They are little people you know :-) Why is total depravity such an easy concept to accept (even for Arminians)? Because we just look at ourselves and our kids.
Rousseau’s tabula rossa theory is laughable isn’t it? Anyone who agrees with him either doesn’t have children or is delusional. Or perhaps blind would be more theologically accurate?
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