A Reminder From My Boy

I admire my son’s heart. He has always been a positive person. As a baby and toddler, he constantly had a smile on his face. A friend asked me once, “I wonder if his little cheeks hurt at the end of the day from smiling so much.” He of course has moments of frustration, anger or sadness like all of us but they never seem to last long. He is now almost 13 years old. On Saturday, his robotics club had a competition that they had been working toward for a few months. Only 5 teams would advance to the state competition. His group did very well and even earned trophies in two of the categories. Unfortunately, they just missed the cut off for making it to the state competition, something he had been really hoping for. When they announced the last team that would be moving on to state, a group from another school, his face dropped. The disappointment was evident. There were parts of the judging that seemed unfair making the loss even worse. But as we made our way through the busy school and chaotic parking lot to the car, my son was already beginning to think of the positives. “At least we got two trophies” and “I can try again next year.” I was still mad at the judges, thinking they must have made a mistake. I wasn’t willing to let go of being angry yet. I tend to do that, hold onto whatever negative emotion or experience that I may have, unwilling to release it. I can’t think of a time that this has ever helped me or made a situation better. It only prolongs the misery. Two days after the competition, on Monday, my son stayed after school for what was typically the robotics scheduled practice time. He had thought that they were going to meet to discuss the competition and deconstruct their robot since they wouldn’t be moving forward. However, when he arrived at the room, he was told that only those teams that made it to state were meeting on that day. No one was rude or condescending about it, but I felt like it was perhaps another reminder of Saturday’s failure. He called me to pick him up. When I arrived, I was once again mad and sad for him. But that boy!…that boy stepped into my car with a smile, asked me about my day and then as a familiar Christian song came on over the radio, he began to sing along with nothing but innocence and joy. Underneath my sunglasses, my eyes began to tear up. It was a reminder. A reminder to let go of my “stuff” and be grateful and praise Him. My son is not musically talented and cannot carry a tune but in that moment, it truly was a joyful noise. God’s Word tells us to give thanks always and even in the difficult times, to give Him praise. It doesn’t make the circumstances change, but our hearts do. He is faithful and worthy to be praised. I am thankful for the reminder that came through this boy of mine.