That Boy.....

When each summer starts I try not to dread injuries happening to my children.  Proverbs 3:25 is my summer verse, "Do not be afraid of sudden terror..."  It can ruin my day if I see them playing at a playground or on their bikes.  I'll start to picture them getting hurt, what will happen, where I will go, what the injury will be, etc.....It's not a good way to live.  Instead when those thoughts come to me now, I pray protection over them and I ask the Lord for His peace as there is nothing I can do really except to try to give them warnings, etc.

If one of my kids were to get injured, it would definitely be the 9 year old boy.  I do kind of half-expect it every single day of his life.  He is my most adventurous, my boldest, my child who is less likely to listen and obey, despite all the warnings.  I have told him numerous times that there are sometimes consequences for his actions that come from God, not me.  Proverbs also speaks of this repeatedly.  Can't say I didn't warn him.....

Most kids when they go to bed, brush their teeth and get in their pyjamas and usually go lie down.  Not him.  He lives his own life, I swear.  I had gone into my bedroom last night when I heard him run down the hall, slam the bathroom door shut and then wash his hands or do something at the sink.  I was already frustrated because he was taking so long to obey and I always ask them to not slam doors.  When he came out of the bathroom door, he was shaking and looked like he had seen a ghost.  He was holding his hand and his face looked like he was in disbelief about something.  I immediately knew he had done something serious and because of how he was looking I started to look for evidence.  Blood was dripping all over the floor.  I also knew he had been warned many, many times to not touch my oldest son's knives in his drawers, but sometimes he just can't help himself and picks them up and looks at them.  I figured he had cut himself on one of those and started to lecture him on why he shouldn't do that.

But, no time for lectures, this seemed a little more serious, so we stumbled downstairs and showed RM who immediately knew something had happened that was a little more than a scratch.  He also knew that this boy had not obeyed or this would not have happened.  Lecture #2 started....also quickly stopped when he saw his face....

Fortunately it wasn't a big cut, but more of a deep gouge, made with a carving implement that he had picked up. (what a naughty kid)  No stitches required, just a bandaid, but it was deep enough to possibly cut some kind of vein that made the blood spray everywhere.  That freaked us all out as it looked like a murder scene - blood on the walls, the shelves, the floor, his arm....sprayed at all angles.  Disgusting!  What made this whole event so amazing was how my oldest son, destined for med school, completely took over.  RM was getting visibly grey from the blood, even just talking about it made him feel woozy.  I was upset because my poor son was in pain and was I couldn't make him better.  But my Doctor Son stepped in and calmly took over.  He was so good.  He reassured my wounded son, he explained what was happening, he assessed whether or not we needed to make a midnight visit to the hospital, he put on the bandaid and kept reassessing his wound.  He made sure he was breathing deeply and kept him warm as he was clearly in shock.  He was knowledgable and told RM and I exactly what was probably going on in his little thumb and what we could expect and on and on......All of us felt like we were in the presence of a real doctor.  The only thing I could think was, "if he doesn't get into med school, something is wrong with the system big time...."

He ended up sitting with my little boy for over an hour or two, watching a show to keep him distracted from the pain which was really bad.  They are both sleeping still and I won't wake them up. I was able to go to bed knowing he was in good hands.

The moral of the story is clearly to keep knives better stored, but the other moral of the story is one my son will not soon forget.  Obey.  We already had told him this about a million times, but sometimes God has a better lesson up His sleeve for children that need to learn.  When we reminded him last night about the danger he said he wouldn't be touching anything sharp ever again.  I hate it when God disciplines severely, but I'm also grateful for His grace to my son as it could have been a very serious injury.  I thank God that it was enough to teach a lesson with a quick recovery time.  May my son learn from this.