As we drove down the road we rode in silence. I was completely annoyed and irritated and Gabe could tell. I had received a call at work from his school saying he had broken his glasses. Although I know that broken glasses is just a part of life it just seemed to happen at the wrong time, on the wrong day.
We drove to the eye doctor barely talking and once we both realized that he was going to have to go through the process of an eye exam the realization that he would most certainly have to wear contacts became rather clear. It would 7 to 10 days for glasses to come in and he would have to see in the meantime so contacts was the only solution to our problem. Gabe had tried contacts before and had a bad experience . The eye doctor was unable to see him so we had to pack up and head across town. On the way there I decided to break the silence and start my Mom speech for the day...
"Gabe, you are 13. It is time that you start taking responsibility for your actions and just manning up sometimes. Although you are the baby of the family you HAVE to step up and start becoming a man..." I went on and on and he seemed uninterested. Okay I thought to myself I'll try something else. "You know how in football you have to pay attention to everything around you?" I looked over at him just hoping to get a glimmer of interest and all I got was a head shake as he looked out the window with his head turned away from me. "Well, life is like that. You have to pay attention and sometimes you have to do things you don't wanna do. You have to step up, man up, and just do it. Like it or not and when that happens you have to do it to the best of your ability. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He nodded again and I thought this isn't working either! I continued on grasping at straws by this point..."Son, you gotta grow up and be mature..." He interrupted me as he turned his head to face me with a smile on his face and said "I get it Mom, it's time to get my head in the game." He got it! "Yes!" I said "Get your head IN the game...you gotta take the plunge...get in there...right now you aren't even the water boy! Help me out a little bit here!" At this point we both started laughing...not even the water boy...he thought that was hilarious! As we walked into the eye doctor's office he stopped and said "Mom, I do understand what you're saying, I got it..." And with a smile and a nod of my head we walked on in.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne." Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT).
It's about time that we run with endurance, with everything we have in us and get to work. It's time that we stop waiting on someone else to do it for us. It's time that we stop standing by watching the game pass us by. Don't you think it's time that we get our head in the game?
No comments:
Post a Comment