CHOOSE TO ASK

Well, I made it 5 weeks without crying and talking at my Nehemiah bible study,which tells you I did very little talking these last 5 weeks. Yep..... right up until last night. Our leader, Mrs. Mary, asked what had spoken to us the most and I had to talk about the reconciliation not disgrace thing so the tears just poured. It's a good thing I have been in Gideon as well, because I spent the rest of the lesson telling myself a broken vessel shines the Light....a broken vessel shines the Light. Better that than the these people think you are psychotic and you have some sort of red skin disorder and will probably never look you in the eye again and blah blah blah......

Trust me, I can go THERE fast.

Okay, but that's not what I got on here to tell you about. FOCUS, Rhonda.
Back in February, one of my sisters and I went to dot.MOM in Dallas with our Siesta Sisters Amy & Michelle, who are sisters as well (HI GIRLS!!! LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!!). During one of the breakout sessions I went to, the lady told of how she would go into her son's room every night and ask him what the best part of his day was and what the worst part of his day was, and then he would reciprocate. She did this well into his teen years, and recounted a time when she forgot he was having some guys stay over, went right on in, killed the light and asked her questions, only to freeze in fear that she had just humiliated him. However, he answered, and so did every other boy in the room ,and what could have been a very awkward moment for them all wound up being a time of ministry to one young man who's parents were getting divorced and no one knew.
None of which relates to my story, but y'all isn't God awesome to do that for us!
So I came home thinking, well, I can give it a try with the MCs and see how it goes.
I've got to tell you - IT HAS GONE PHENOMENAL!

They love it. They get mad if I ...ahem.... try to rush through it. They want to hear my best and worst part. MC 1 likes me to guess his best and worst part. MC 2 has added his "sad" part. Our nephew spent the night, and the MCs were concerned I wasn't going to "do the thang" with company. Oh no - I just hit 'em all up.
Also, usually when we pick the boys up after church I ask the age old question,

"So, what did y'all talk about?"



Some Sundays it is like pulling teeth to get a better answer then "Jesus", because, clearly it's church and you should have talked about Jesus, so that's a cop-out. We keep digging until I get the full story. However, should I forget, as I did this past Sunday, I get the,

"MOM, aren't you going to ask me what we talked about?"

 

speech, and on really good Sundays, they even ask me what we talked about in church.

 

 

Point (yes, there was one) - kids want you to ask about them. Your kids want you to ask about them. Sure, some days they are less forthcoming, but they still want you to ask. About school. About sports. About their friends. About their days. About the good and the bad and the sad.

As the MCs get older, I am well aware that the answers may be whittled down to grunts, but on those fortunate, (I believe) God-given days when they aren't, when the man child is feeling a little chatty, I want to be sure I asked.

 

May we be parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors who choose to ask those babies how they are doing.

It is so worth it on the days they choose to tell us.