A few weeks ago, I had an altercation with my oldest grandson, and after he yelled out, “Grandma, my brain can’t handle this!” I left the room distraught. I didn’t quite understand fully what he meant, until I went into prayer to inquire of the Lord.

 

“He’s a male child, and his brain is wired differently than yours. When you tell him to do a task, it takes a moment to process. But when you tell your granddaughter to do a task, she is able to process it right away. It’s not that he’s being disobedient all the time, it’s mostly because he is hearing and processing in a different way. The male way,” the Lord, explained.

 

After He said that, I began to think back on my interactions with boys. I hadn’t really interacted with a little boy in years. I had a daughter, then a granddaughter. I really didn’t even get to know my grandson, until he moved in with me. We are just now figuring each other out. He’s a ball of energy, and he’s quite the talker, and speaks his every thought out loud, which makes me so angry, because it sounds disrespectful as the adult. But I realize now that he is only being the way he knows how to be. He’s a loving young man, who is generous, kind and always serving.

 

I have noticed that his father’s side of the family is vocal like that, and his mother is emotional, so he probably can’t help it at this time. I am trying to help him realize that you can’t say everything you feel or think. But the more I get to know him for who he is, the more I get to enjoy him for who he is.

 

They never expected to have to live with me, anymore than I expected to have to help raise them. But family life is a journey of emotional ups-and-downs, discovering of personalities, and a lot of extended forgiveness. We do a lot of forgiving in our home. My granddaughter laughs at him and I saying, “Y’all argue, then five minutes later, y’all are laughing like you never argued.”

 

It’s true. Even though I don’t appreciate his vocal temper tantrums, I don’t want lingering anger between us. I have noticed that when I calm down, he also calms down. So, the “emotional ball” is in my court as the adult. My daughter often reminds me, “Ma, you are not raising me, these children need a bit more tough love. They don’t just listen like I did.” I so agree, so please pray for me! Whew!!!

 

Recently, at a dental appointment, the receptionist remarked, “I don’t know what’s going on with these children, they don’t want to listen. And they think they can just say whatever they want and do whatever they want.” Yup! They sure do. And the reason is because God warned that in the last days, children would be disobedient to their parents.

 

The Bible states in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV), “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

 

My grand children have given their lives to God, so they are born-again and have been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. But they still walk in their fleshly ways, a lot, because they haven’t completely been transformed by the renewing of their minds. They are still in process as we all are. Romans 12:2, (NIV) urges us, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

 

We have family devotional time, and my grandson and I have grandmother-grandson time in devotional readings, talks and prayer. When I get overwhelmed or frustrated, as most parents or grandparents do, I confess Philippians 1:6 (NLT) aloud to myself, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Then I leave him to God to change. It’s not my responsibility to make a better child or man of him, it’s only my responsibility to direct him to God and His word, for Him to do the saving and the transforming. But pray for me and my family because we are still a work in progress. I am praying for you and your families also. Take a deep breath…. ahhhhhhhh!