Article June 29, 1974 Issue

"Lift up the lad"

HELEN M. LEADBEATER

My teen-aged son and I were having a disagreement about some plans the boy had made for himself. The plans seemed very unwise to me. I reasoned patiently with him and prayed, knowing that God would direct him to do the right thing. But the boy did not change his plans, and I did not change my opinion of them.

Things were at an impasse. Over the next few days I struggled with myself. Should I force my son to alter his plans? This might solve the immediate problem but would almost certainly leave resentment. Should I reluctantly tell the boy to "do whatever he thought was best"? This is sometimes a poorly disguised way parents have of implying that the child's decision is really wrong and he'd better change it to what his parents suggest.

One morning as I earnestly asked God to show me how to pray in this situation, I found my thought turning to an experience related in the Bible—an experience of a mother and her son. The twenty-first chapter of Genesis tells of Hagar, who, with her son Ishmael, was exiled, and wandered in the wilderness. Their water was gone, and it appeared to Hagar that the boy would soon die.

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