When Passions Interfere

There are little eyes upon you,
And they are watching night and day;

There are little ears that quickly

Take in every word you say.

There are little hands all eager

To do everything you do;

And a little boy who's dreaming

Of the day he'll be like you.

You're the little fellow's idol;

You're the wisest of the wise;

In his little mind, about you

No suspicions ever rise.

He believes in you devotedly;

Holds that all you say and do,

He will say and do in your way

When he's grown up just like you.

There's a wide-eyed little fellow

Who believes you're always right;

And his ears are always open

And he watches day and night.

You are setting an example

Every day in all you do;

For the little boy who's waiting

To grow up to be just like you.

Author unknown

The summer following my son's disastrous kindergarten experience (read about it here) I had the hardest time getting him to read a book.  Not because he didn't know how to read, but because it was pure torture for him to sit down with a book .  After many months of reading to him, trying to get him to read to me, he finally gave in quit fighting and began to read on his own more often.

There is still the occasional whining, but even that seems to happen less and less.  Now, my son will finish a book and looks forward to what he gets to read next.  What a difference!

This past week while taking my "break" from blogging we really focused on school.  The subject that seems to be the new "torture" is writing.

After several days and the same number of lessons my son said to me, "Mom, you are really good at writing.  Is that why you like to write so much on your blog?"

My heart did a little flip.  I grabbed greedily at this opportunity to tell my son how important writing is to me.  He just looked at me, smiled, and said, "I can do this too mom."  My heart melted.

Later that day my son wanted to look at my blogs.  He has seen some of my posts, but never realized how many I had written.  To him it was "amazing", and he kept asking me if I had really written all of them.  Again, he gave me that beautiful smile and told me it was ok if I wanted to write some more.

I've had time to reflect back to those days of struggling with my son over his reading.  The realization that he may have viewed  reading and writing so negatively because they are my passions he had to compete with for his mommies attention.  With a new outlook those dreaded subjects are now being embraced by my son as something we can share together.

When I was blind to how my passions interfered with my relationship with my son those passions became his downfall.  It's my responsibility to balance those passions with the interaction and guidance my son deserves.

The right circumstances have given me what started as a negative into a lasting bond between my son and I.

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want."  Galatians 5:16-17