DAY 8 (Read Day 1 “OK, Honey. Challenge Accepted!” Post)

Character development is a constant conversation between myself and my teens.  Eye rolls occur, “I know, Mom” are spoken words and sporadically, on remote occasions, there is a remorseful apology given without prompt when a mistake has been uncovered.

“I’m sorry,” he said, with tears in his eyes.  Tears not from getting caught, not from the consequence poured out, but salty drips of remorse from the disappointment he sensed over his choice.

“What the heck were you thinking, you know better, how could you”…all words I could have spilled and justified.  Instead, the Spirit nudged and I followed the prompt, not to scold, not to layer on the guilt, but instead, we shared a golden moment as we strolled down memory lane.

“Remember when you beat your PR by 10 yards?  What about the time you decided to ride your tricycle down 5 concrete steps?”  My personal favorite, “do you recall prompting our family to take the $20 we had set aside for a cheap lunch out, turn the car around and graciously give it to the family on the street corner.”

“Yeah,” was his confused response.

“Good,” I smiled. “Those are the victories that depict who you are, not the flaws in conscience that rise on occasion.”