Whoa. This summer I am in my own personal crash course with the Holy Spirit. Several books have come my way which are blowing me up in all the needed places, but put those books in the hands of the Living Spirit and you have a cocktail called Rock My World, complete with a little umbrella. Wink. Seriously. It is in a word: Transformation.
One book is called Are My Kids On Track? by Goff, Thomas, and Trevathan. If your kids are little, get and activate it immediately. If you are thinking about kids, get it and work it in to your marriage right now. If you’re like me, and your kids are on their way out door, go take a deep breath of Grace, and then immediately activate it anyway. It’s never too late to start doing something better.
These wise, insightful counselors and authors have so many tools for healthy emotional development and go so far as to identify, for each gender, stumbling blocks and and building blocks. I tell you, this book is a must read. You know why? Because if we don’t turn our stumbling blocks into building blocks then we remain stuck little kids inside grown up bodies. And we all know THAT person who “never grew up.”
One particular insight explained stumbling blocks for boys as B-A-D. They said boys are most likely to go to Blame, Avoidance, and Denial. BAD. Believe it or not, there are building blocks to help them through this, as opposed to saying “boys will be boys” or boys are not emotional. Okay you got this concept? BAD, being aware of when I am refusing to take ownership, when I refuse to engage in a solution, or even admit there is an issue.
Holy Spirit has used this book to install a new alarm system. My heart starts pinging when I go to BAD.
The Holy Spirit took this pearl and added it to a beautiful concept from another book called Rising Strong by Brene’ Brown. As one of my Kate friends says: Love me some Brene’. Brene’ asks some real world questions in the aftermath of when you fall flat on your face, when the worst thing does happen, when you fail in front of everyone. How do you get back up? How do you rise again stronger and wiser and kinder to yourself and those around you?