13 Comes Too Soon

I am about to be a mother to a teenaged boy. 

Overwhelmed, and feeling unprepared for this time are gross understatements.  I've got this nudge in my heart that says, 'I don't have enough time left to prepare this boy of mine for life.' And that thought frightens me a bit.  I know that what he faces already is much more than I had to, and I want to just circle the wagons and build a great wall around him and his sisters.  Darkness presses in.  And here I sit, praying and praying and hoping and praying some more that somewhere along the way Jesus has taken root in my boy's heart. Not the kind of religious, rule following because I have to, kind of thing.  Not the I am holier than you kind of thing. The Real Thing. The life of Grace Thing. The Life that flows directly from the very Spirit of God. That out of him flows streams that reflect his True Identity, who God says Isaac Benjamin is.

Purity of Heart.
Honor.
Kindness.
Gentleness.
Peace.
Thankfulness.
and the Joy that comes with it all.
And Grace.  Piles of Grace.