Wailing Along

“But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:12


My children are passionate wailers, especially my oldest son. Any small, seemingly insignificant injury with or without blood, has always produced an onslaught of tears and a horrible tone uttered in long continuous whine much like that of a train whistle. My husband and I joke that we should have named him Waylon, as in Jennings, but then his brother would have had to have been Willie, and I’m not sure I could have dealt with the braids. Plus, we’re not THAT country!

Anywho… We have reassured him many times that scraping a knee was not a fatal blow and that he was not dying, although he sounded the contrary. Very few of his injuries have required professional intervention. But, like Old Faithful, you can bet that in the face of discomfort, he’s going to blow! High pitched anguish to follow for any surrounding ears, along with possible stares from well-meaning strangers, while mother stands by waiting for the storm to subside. It’s best not to intervene early as this seems to produce more siren blasting.

Today was a summer-themed fun day at his school that involved being hosed down by the fire department and playing with beach balls and Frisbees out on the football field. I was unable to attend due to a previous engagement involving Jupiter jumps and snow cones for five-year-olds. (It’s the last week of school.) The weather had threatened rain all morning anyway, so I wasn’t sure any of the outside activities were actually going to materialize. Then this afternoon the sky opened up and it turned out to be quite sunny. I didn’t know there was good reason for this.

When I picked up said older son from school he said, “Guess what? When I was out on the football field and fell down and hurt my knee, I just got back up and kept playing. And I didn’t cry at all! And God saw that I didn’t cry and was still having fun, and that made him happy, so the sun came out! So I made the sun come out!”

Thanks be to God for noticing small personal achievements, even those unknown to others!

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” Psalm 30:11-12