Taught by a Teenager

Yesterday,  my teenage daughter came home holding several grocery bags. She plopped them on the kitchen table and disappeared.


It was around dinner time. 
I had been up since 5:30am.
I was exhausted and overwhelmed.

I had spent the morning delivering a workshop out of town. The rest of my precious Saturday was spent cleaning, trying desperately, to get some semblance of order in the house. 

So, when yet ANOTHER thing on the kitchen table, I got agitated. 

In one bag, there was baby food. Not just a little bit of baby food, but about 30 jars. I got confused. My perplexity, confusion and agitation began to show. In fact, you could even hear in it my voice and see it in my mannerisms.

There are no babies in our house and our house does not have that much storage space.

I began to simmer. 

Do you ever get like that around dinnertime?

As, my investigation continued, I found that the second bag had loads of deodorant and toothpaste.

Immediately, I thought,

"Where am I going to store this stuff? What is THIS? What in the world is SHE thinking?"

Remember, we do not have a lot of storage space in this house.

I forget exactly what I said to my daughter, but I am sure that the tone or words might have been a little 'off.'

And then SOMETHING happened. 
Something BIG in the mothering world.

My teenage daughter looks at me and says:

"Mom, I was trying to do something good. 

Why do you have to turn something 
                      GOOD into something BAD? 

Since our store is closing, 

(she is a part time cashier at a local grocery store)

everything is 50% off. 

I thought we could give the baby food to 
Dr. Simone's charity. 

I thought it might be handy to have some extra deodorant and shampoo in the house. 

I was trying to do something good. 

Why are you turning it into something bad, why mom?" 

I could deeply sense she was struggling, doing her utmost not to offend me by challenging me,

I sensed this young woman's voice was trying to be heard and understood. 


Admittedly, I was humbled. 

I love this girl to pieces! 

I am so proud of who she is becoming.

I see now, through writing this post that

I really do need to apologize. 

But more than that, I really need to discipline my mind and emotions to focus on the GOOD. 

All too often, as wives and mothers, we let our minds drift instead of lifting them up to Christ.

It is another healthy reminder that I need to pray always without ceasing; at the sink, at the kitchen table and in the laundry room too!

Has anything like this ever happened to you? 

I would love to hear about it.

Have you ever been taught be a teenager?