truth

Truth.

Something I am learning about truth is this.

Truth is still truth even if the spokesperson of that truth has sometimes neither lived nor believed that truth.

Because

truth

doesn’t require

my consent.

Truth doesn’t wait for me to act upon it to become truth.

You know how I am learning this?

By my husband and I being in the position of having to speak the truth we have not always lived to our eldest daughter.

This raising a teenager business . . .  this dance of guiding and supporting, letting go and holding back . . . it’s the hardest.

Give me the dirtiest diaper you can throw at me.

In fact, throw it at me.

I’d take that

any day

over

these late night conversations

this other form of heartache

this burning, tumbling, not knowing

at this stage of the grand experiment that is Parenthood.

So we struggle

as parents

to gather the right words

to make the most of opportunities

to not overreact

to embrace empathy

to speak what we don’t always do

to speak what we didn’t always do when we looked more like her and less like us.

We place restrictions

make decisions

pull back the reigns

when we think it Biblical and sound.

I think we’re really

just trying to

make her world bigger

give her more perspective

teach her about the true grace and freedom found within the confines of obedience

direct her to self-censorship.

Try to figure out when to

step in

and when to

step back.

And

in the aftermath

she sometimes claims

that perhaps we might be

anti-technology

anti-the-way-things-are-today.

Oh.

It’s not about facebook, darling.

It’s never been about facebook.

It never has been.

It’s not about your cell phone.

It’s never been about your cell phone.

It never has been.

We are just funneling this truth down to you.

We know where you are

because

we have been there too.