“The Cat Peed on My Camera!”

(True words spoken by a 14 year old at 6:45am.)

I know you really want to hear about the cat – and I will get to that in a moment – but first let me tell you how God appears in this situation.

Being a mom is the most challenging adventure God has set before me and I knew this from the very beginning. In fact, my firstborn child was only hours old when I realized I couldn’t do this on my own and I finally decided to make a real commitment tofollowing Jesus. This commitment has filled the past 15 years of motherhood with so much joy and laughter that even when there have been tears - there has also been peace.

So here I am now – officially in the teen age years of motherhood – and I have spiritually matured into a prayer-warrior for my kids! I say I have spiritually matured because I have learned the hard lesson of receiving a ‘no’ from God to a lot of my prayers concerning my kids. Most of my prayers ask God to ‘fix’ problems or keep my children out of tough situations. God often reminds me that there is no way for them to learn to stand on their own two feet if He doesn’t give them the opportunity to do so.

Please hang in there a few more moments – we’re almost to the cat story! My oldest son (who will be 15 years old in a few weeks) is learning to stand on his own two feet in his academic career. Looking back now, I realize I did not give him thisopportunity before he entered junior high school because I acted as his personal assistant in the area of homework. After three years of not receiving those cute weekly newsletters from his teachers (FYI for you young moms - they do not do that in junior high) math summer school was becoming a strong possibility for my child. My motherly prayers were now starting to sound like strong warnings to God that my peace was fading and if He wanted me to continue on a path of biblical parenting then He needed to step in! Well demands like that will always get you a ‘no’ from God. However, God did gently take the parenting reins for a day which changed everything.

Two weeks after my son received a camera for Christmas, that he desperately needed for his photography class, he camestorming down the hallway at 6:45 in the morning notifying me that overnight the cat peed on his favorite sweatshirt and hiscamera was in the pocket. The camera would not power up and photos for his end-of-the-semester project were on it. Oh, how the lecture on being more responsible flew that morning! We were only a month away from the end of the semester and now even more challenges were facing my child in pulling passing grades. Thankfully God showed me it was time for a ‘stand on your own two feet’ lesson – not a lecture.

After a long one-on-one discussion with my son I challenged him to come up with a plan and some goals to help him developbetter study habits. One of those goals was to start attending the MSG (math study group) at the church. I was thrilled by his goals! However, I had no idea at the time that God was setting in motion a miracle for my child. Two weeks after attending the MSG my son received his first A on a math test since entering junior high. His “I’m just hopeless in math” attitude was replaced with confidence and accomplishment. This new attitude that God pulled from deep down inside him filtered into success in all of his classes. Seeing your child stand on their own two feet might just be the greatest joy of parenting - even when it means some of my motherly prayers have to be answered as a ‘no.’

I am so grateful for the ‘yes’ that was answered by BJ Eliason when God set before him an adventure of helping teens in our church with their math challenges. I believe it wasn’t just BJ’s knowledge of math that helped my child succeed; I believe it was God working through BJ to encourage my child to reach for his best. I am grateful for all the Student Ministries leaders who help my child every week to reach for his best. With God’s guidance and the support of Washington Cathedral I believe I will be able to keep my peace through the rest of the teenage years!

A glimpse of motherhood from a grateful mom.