I believe that God gave all women a "sixth sense." Call it mother's intuition, mother's instinct, gut feeling, or anything else you care to call it. It's real.........It's as real as our sense of touch, sight or sound. If you are a woman, you've got it. If you are a mother, you've got it. I always felt like my mother had "eyes in the back of her head" because she seemed to know what we were doing even if we didn't think she did. Well, I have figured out, now that I have 3 teenage boys, that I don't have "eyes in the back of the head" but I do have the gift of "mother's instinct" that God gave me. It's just like the other 5 senses that we learn about as children. This "sixth sense" is a natural one, but one that has to be "grown." By that I mean that we have to be open to it, we have to be on heightened alert when it is at work, and we have to listen when it's calling to us. In past blogs I have sometimes referred to my "Spirit" but I think this is different in that I believe that all women have this "sixth sense" and not all women have God's Holy Spirit. I want to be clear that I think there is a difference, but by God's grace, I get to have both.
I would also like to give a disclaimer that I don't always know what my kids are doing and maybe that's a gift from God, too. At some point Mom doesn't need nor does she want to know everything but that in no way removes the "intuition" that we get when it happens. Prayer helps with the moment that happens. A little nudging that something is going on so it's time for a mother's prayer since we can't be in all places at once, even though it is thought that we can. All moms reading this know the moment when the "instinct" hits. Maybe I need to check the cellphone, maybe I need to run back by the house, maybe I need to call or text my boy at college. The need to check-in, the need to protect, the need to say "I'm proud of you." One of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is where Luke says that "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." I know how that feels. You watch and you listen and you smile and you treasure and ponder. And you say to yourself, as Mary did, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."
There are certain times in my "mothering" life that have been more difficult than others. Many of these center around the times when my heart is conflicted with my wisdom, not to mention the ever present "instinct" creeping in. As mothers we send our kids to school for hours every day trusting that they will be met by teachers and coaches who may not love them as we do, but they respect and care for their "well being" while they are at school. We do not expect for our children to be lied to, humiliated, deceived, or belittled. I realize that nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. God knows that I have said and done things that I wish I hadn't. If you were watching the basketball tournament this past weekend and the days following, the contrast came into sharp focus. As we were watching the game on Sunday, the player from Louisville went down with a grotesque break in his leg that was so bad that they quit replaying it. You saw members of both teams and both coaches literally speechless with tears in their eyes. You saw one of his team members kneel and pray with him and, if you're a mom, you felt for his mother. You wondered where she was and how she was feeling. It's just how it is. I made the comment to all who could hear, "This is when, as a parent, you hope and pray that there is a coach there who cares about your son." We watched the aftermath, we saw tweets of the Louisville player and how he was improving, and we breathed a sigh of relief when Rick Pitino did his news conference citing how amazed he was at the strength of Kevin Ware. We were all cozy and good until, the very next day, we had to see the Rutgers coach pitching his baby fit and acting out like a five year old. If you have seen the footage of it, you don't quite know what to think. My first thought was I wish that some of these big huge players would just send him flying across the room. But, of course, they are enslaved to him because they are on scholarship. Isn't that sad?
A part of me understands the whole college athlete, scholarship thing but an even bigger part of me thinks that it is a way of using and making money off of young promising athletes who are at a very vulnerable age. Now, mind you, there are several in my house who would disagree, but that's neither here nor there to me. As a mother it is obvious that grades are being changed, young people are being paid and bribed with fancy cars, they are being called names, they are being hit by either slimy wimpy coaches or ones who are so fat they can hardly move anymore, and then people are surprised when all of it comes to light? Give me a break. Get your head out of the sand. These people are pathetic and if I was an upstanding coach who follows the rules and treats his players right, I would be thrilled that they are exposed. I laugh to myself when I hear anyone justify this kind of behavior. There is no justification. None. Oh boy, I could go on and on right here, but I think it's clear where this mom stands on this issue. One last thing. It doesn't matter what terminology you give it Here's a few: "They will be inelligible, It's legal, It goes against NCAA rules, it's OK with NCAA rules, BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!!! Right is right and wrong is wrong. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.........
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