Dylan has been saving all his money since last September. For many, that is not a big deal. Really, that's about 5 months only. For Dylan, that is HUGE! Dylan is very much like me. Money seems to burn holes in our pockets and wallets (at least that's what Dan always says). The minute we get some money in our hands, we spend it...or over-spend it. Not this time, though. Dylan's heart is set on a new phone, and we told him we were not buying it for him. So, when he realized we were serious, he understood that unless he came up with the money himself, his dream of a new phone would remain a dream. And that has been his motivation.
Like never before, he has saved every penny he got for those special occasions a kid gets money from relatives. He has done work for pay around the house, and he has resisted every single temptation to spend it. He keeps it in an envelop and he counts and recounts it daily. At the same time he continues to look for the best deals online...checking for surprise discounts and special offers on the phone he has his heart set on. And this week...with a twinkle in his eyes, he announced he had reached the magic number. And he was ready to order it.
We weren't too thrilled with this whole thing. I mean, he has a phone that is perfectly adequate. We know his desire for this new phone comes from the fact that "all my friends...blah, blah, blah" story as old as time...but, on the other hand, we were impressed on his ability to focus and on his display of discipline. So Dan helped him process the order. The phone was supposed to arrive yesterday...emphasis on "supposed to."
When Dylan came home from school, to say that he was disappointed was the understatement of the century. He had just come back from a basketball game his team won, in which he had a really good performance that should have made him happy for the rest of the season...but no...the fact that the phone wasn't here crushed him.
I kept my mouth shut. And finally he said to me, with a tone of reproach: "I'm all depressed here and you haven't even comforted me." My sweet, kind and loving reply was something like this: "there's nothing to comfort you about! Did you fail school? Is your mother dead or your dad lost his job? Did your house burn down and you're homeless on the streets? Did your dog get hit by a car and die? I would even give you losing the game or something. But, NO! You are this disappointed and upset over a ... T H I N G! You are wasting your precious time being miserable over something of NO importance. Have you thought God might be trying to teach you something here? Like, patience? I'm telling you, because I know. I'm just as impatient as you are. I want what I want, and I want it NOW...and God is trying to teach me to trust His timing, which is definitely not mine...UGH!"
Sigh...
He listened to me silently...and went away to watch some silly show on TV. I went back to my computer, and less than half an hour later, we ran into each other in the kitchen. His face was back to his normal self. He looked at me and said: "well, my disappointment only lasted 20 minutes. That's not too bad, is it?" I smiled at him and kept my mouth shut. He had enough of my "pep talks" for a while. I kept thinking about this incident, though. Especially, because, like I said...I am not a patient person. I have a hard time trusting God's timing. And my disappointments never last only 20 minutes. I have carried disappointments in my soul that have lasted me decades...and continue on. I am a very slow learner. But, Praise the Lord, my Teacher is Faithful and Loving so He does not give up on me.
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