As for Me and My House

It has happened, we have entered the stage of parenthood where you start participating in extracurricular activities.  For many families it is little league baseball, soccer, or pee wee basketball.  At our house it is jr rodeo.  Our cowboy has been pretty amped up about it since his first mutton bustin’ (where little guys ride a sheep) last fall, and so this summer we have let him become a member of the local youth rodeo organization and he is participating in their summer series of 6 rodeos.

Our first rodeo was a muddy mess in a torrential downpour.  The car had to be pulled out with a tractor afterwards and I have never dealt with so much muddy laundry in my life… but some things happened that day that moved my mom-heart pretty deeply.  Despite the mud, (a) had a BLAST and he was so proud of himself for being brave and tough.  And while he was in line waiting for one of his events, he started visiting with another little boy.  The other child’s belt buckle caught his eye, and (a) struck up a conversation with the first line, “I like your belt buckle!”  They went on to discuss their different events, giggle about their ponies, and before I knew it, on his own, (a) stuck out his hand to shake hands with his new friend, (md), and introduced himself by name.  When we got ready to leave he wanted to make sure to tell him good-bye and told me, “Mama, I want to go tell (md) he did a great job!”  There are SO many things we are failing at as parents, but I felt like he is listening to a few things we are trying to teach him when he could shake hands with another young man and make sure to tell him (a competitor) that he did a great job.  When we went to our next rodeo a few weeks later, the boys were so excited to see each other again.  The jabbered, and giggled, and let (md)’s mom snap an adorable picture of them.  His mom and I talked about our jobs and our churches, and how thankful we were to see our boys making friends.

Once again, at the second rodeo something happened that moved me, to tears actually, that I was not prepared for.  As with many sporting events, the day started with the presentation of the flag and the singing of the national anthem.  After that, the announcer prayed for the day- not a generic politically correct prayer, but a real prayer, in the name of Jesus, for the safety of the participants and thanksgiving for the opportunity to do what they love.  Of course, that is something I have heard all my life, but on that day, it hit me in a VERY emotional way.  Just the day before I had seen the news briefly, and rioters were burning an American flag while defacing a statue of George Washington.  My heart has been so broken as I have watched things unfolding for the last several months.  So many things are polarizing our country right now, pitting brother against brother, friend against friend.  It seems like everything I see is politically charged from one side or the other, people are attacking each other over differing views- whether it is about racial equality, wearing of masks, or who we should vote for in November.  It feels like the world has lost its ability to respectfully discuss things, to care about others, or to consider that you as an individual might not be the center of the universe.  As a mom, I watch the things happening around us and I am truly terrified for the world my boys might face.  If I think about it too much it is paralyzing.  I fear they might see a day where democracy ceases to exist, a day where they might be persecuted for their faith, or a day where it will be hard to still be friends with people who don’t see the world EXACTLY like they do. 

As the flag was presented that day and The Star-Spangled Banner was sung, I was unprepared for the tears that came flowing down my cheeks.  As I looked around the arena at everyone standing and men holding their cowboy hats over their hearts, all I could think of was the verse from Joshua“As for me and my house…”  I cannot control the world around me, I cannot control how others feel, and think and act, I cannot control what is happening in Washington… but (A) and I can focus on what happens in OUR house.  We can raise young men who still stand for the flag- does she represent a perfect country, no, of course there are terrible, sad parts of our past that we need to continue to learn from and change for the future, but we can respect what she stands for and all the freedoms that men and women have laid down their lives for.  We can raise young men who want to be friends with others- no matter what their back ground is, what they look like, where they are from, or what their political views are- young men who respect differences, learn from others, and can still be friends at the end of the day when they don’t see everything eye to eye.  We can raise young men who cling to their faith, even if it isn’t always the popular thing to do, who will do the right thing even when it’s hard, and stand up for others when they need a friend.  I can’t fix all the problems in this world, I can’t change other people, but for me and my house- we will serve the Lord and do our best to stand on His Word and His values. 

When the flag left the arena and the prayer was over, I had to pull myself together.  In a world that seems so scary right now, I had a little peek of perspective.  There are still wonderful, happy things happening, there are still people who cheer for each other, build each other up, help each other out, there are still good people serving as role models for my children, and there are opportunities for them to bring the change I hope to see in the world.  And I pray that there are other families standing on that hope as well… As for me and my house…

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15