Young Peacemakers

Delayed openings make my head spin.  Somehow I manage to be driving through slush at a snail's pace on even more shuttle runs to school than on normal days.  Go figure.  The phone rang and vibrated the silence of 5:15 am with the automated message of the superintendent's decision.  Ugh.  Change of schedules make for difficult mornings.

But then -

I took the chance after the little boys were safely dropped off for their mornings at preschool to sit with three of my middle kids as we worked through another lesson in The Young Peacemakers.  This curriculum is not new to me, but I brought it out again for this middle group of kids.  Matthew and Madison work through it with me weekly, but my other 10yo is in public school all day and is not home.  Today was different.  It was no coincidence.

We were starting another lesson which focused on the opportunities that conflict creates.  The story centered on a girl whose parents were separated and leaning towards divorce. She felt scared, angry, alone, uncertain.  She was good at blaming and acting disrespectful.  My 10yo knew exactly where this girl was coming from.  No other stories that we have read touched on this topic.  It was no accident that for this day, this moment, we landed here. I sat there with my heart thanking God for another moment where he showed himself very real to me.  I was able to teach today how conflict is an opportunity to trust God.  For my son, life makes little sense.  It maddens him.  He is afraid of what may come and what might never come.  God lives in him, but my son is learning to trust that God has everything all held together even when the conflict is ugly and scary.  

The delay pushed back the opening of my son's school day, but it left time for some valuable teaching moments at the kitchen table.