Hudson is 3 1/2. He is all-the-way a stereotypical boy. He likes superheroes, dinosaurs, throwing things (sometimes in frustration, sometimes for fun), yelling, running, tackling, and not washing his hair. Having had Audrey first, Hudson comes across as a bit of a shocker. If ever the innate difference between boys and girls were on display, it would look like what I call 'every day' in my home.
He basically has two emotions - really happy or really angry. Now, in writing that, and in your reading it, my first reaction is to think of some sort of explanation for his anger. Or of a way to 'fix' his anger so that he calms down. Or to think of some soft-spoken, arts-and-crafts sort of way to 'channel that energy'. Here's the thing: I don't want that ferocity to decline. I want it directed at that which requires a ferocious mentality - sin and Satan. I want him to be a destroyer of bad arguments. I want him to annihilate wrong thinking, bad doctrine, besetting sin, and the enemy's lies wherever he confronts them. In short, I want him to be a warrior.
Nonetheless, he can't always be fighting. He must learn to compliment a ferocious approach to killing sin with a gentleness and compassion for lost and hurting people and his loved ones. This will be my challenge with him - how to teach him compassion on the one hand and brutality on the other, all the while imparting the wisdom necessary to discern between the appropriate times for each.
At this point, my best option is the one I have taken over the last year - praying with him and for him nightly that he would be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. I further pray that he would learn to be both tough and tender (I take this idea from Darrin Patrick's excellent book, Church Planter). This is the journey I am on with Elijah Hudson, my missionary prophet.
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