Six-Minute Attitude Adjustment

I was super tired Monday night and thought it would be a great idea to go to bed early.

After a few delays, I found myself in bed. Exhausted. (It was no longer what I considered to be "early" but I'd made it, and I couldn't wait to get some rest.) When I'd been asleep for maybe half an hour, I was awoken by a ringing telephone.
Of course, the phone is on my side of the bed, so I answered the call.
It was Joshua.
He was at school for rugby practice and needed a ride home.
Seems the kid who was going to give him a ride didn't make it to practice Monday night, and apparently no one else could give Joshua a ride home. Believe me, I asked!

So, at 10:22 I got out of bed to go retrieve my son. And I was not happy about it.
Why is my sleep being sabotaged like this tonight? Why didn't he tell me earlier that his friend wasn't at practice? Then I could have sent Brian to pick him up gone and picked him up earlier! Why did we even say Joshua could play rubgy? Practice starting at 8:30 is ridiculous!

Fortunately, by the time I had stumbled out of bed, put on my shoes and coat, gotten my keys and made it into the van, I had spewed out all my annoyed thoughts.
God spent the five or six minutes it takes to get to school reigning in my negativity, and leading me in a better direction.

As I drove I recalled a post I'd seen on Facebook earlier in the evening. It went something like, "You spend years wishing your parents would get off your back, only to realize later - they were the only ones who really had your back."
God showed me in that moment - I had a choice. And how I responded to my choice would cause Joshua either to want me to get off his back OR to realize I had his back.

When Joshua got into the van in just a few moments I could:
*lecture him about securing a ride before he got into a situation where he's stuck without one.
*remind him how tired I was and make sure he was suuuuper thankful I got out of bed, rather than telling him to WALK HOME.
*spout off about how inconsiderate it is to tell someone you have a ride home, when in reality you don't. And then just wake them up and expect them to come get you.

OR

I could:
*greet him nicely and ask how practice went.
*bite my tongue when I wanted to start lecturing.
*resist the urge to yawn dramatically, with the intent of evoking guilty feelings from my son.
*tell Joshua I was glad he felt safe calling and asking me to come get him.

The good news is, I chose the latter.
Joshua didn't need my lectures or my drama. He knew I wasn't happy about getting out of bed to go to school at that hour. I didn't need to reinforce his desire for me to get off his back.
As we drove home, I admitted to him the transformation of attitude I'd just experienced, and I hope he understood that his mom really does have his back.
And even as I reflect on the circumstance hours later, I am reminded and thankful for the ways GOD has my back. Oh, so thankful HE kept me from spewing tired, angry words at my boy!