The Product of Fear

The Product of Fear

My son has traditionally lacked focus and initiative. 

Last week someone sent him some Legos as a gift.  There were 3 kits in the box.  One of them was a semi, trailer, and helicopter.  After a couple days, he got out the kit with the truck, trailer, & rotary craft and started working on it.  He didn’t get finished.  The next day he finished his homework and started working on the kit again.  It’s very odd for him to pick up on a previously started project.  At some point he got in some trouble and got sent to his room.  He said, “Fine.  i’m going.  But I’m taking this with me!”  He took the whole kit up to his room and continued to work on it.  Usually, he goes to his room, screams and yells a bit, and then sits and stews for a while.

Today he informed me that it’s easier to concentrate in school here than it was at the last school. 

I saw progress reports for some classes this week.  B’s & C’s.  This kid has not had such good grades at a minimum in the last 2 years, possibly ever.  He took a test in Social Studies and got 21/22 correct.  A. 

When we moved, he lost the underlying daily fear and it gained him significant focus.

But it also left room for other fears to surface.  He’s interacted with some people who were rather inappropriate in the past. 

As his 13th birthday approached, he started exhibiting more and more disrespect and anxiety.  Fear.  When we finally drilled down, he said that he was afraid of becoming a teenager because he knew at least one person who had begun acting inappropriately toward others when they became a teen.  He was so afraid that he would be the same way.  Many talks and a lot of work later, he faced his fear and decided that he would choose to make better decisions than that other person he knew - through prayer and because he can. 

He says he’s still a little nervous but that he’s going to make it and he’s going to learn to make good decisions.  Yep.  That’s my boy.  Face your fears and overcome them with the Holy Spirit and one step at a time. 

Fear produces a lot of negative situations.  But God, safety, prayer, and the knowledge that it is possible to take control of one’s own life, are a pretty good antidote.