Superheroes

So superheroes have been the topic of conversation the past few weeks in our home. Not sure where it came from, but I'm gathering that it came from the other boys at school because whenever I pick Braden up from mother's day out, I hear about some crazy story of he and his buddies fighting bad guys and tigers and monsters and locking them all up in jail. Now I did not grow up around boys, so all this talk about shooting and bad guys and superpowers, not to mention all the sound effects that go along with all of this play is like a foreign language to me. I'm having a hard time just letting it be and remembering that Braden is a little boy and little boys love to fight bad guys and dream about being a superhero and rescuing someone and that it's all harmless play. I've started reading "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge and I have found it so fascinating to think that God created little boys to be warriors and if we truly believe that man is made in the image of God, then we should remember that "the Lord is a warrior..." (Exod15:3). John in his book talks a lot about little boys from a very young age wanting to shoot things. And how so often parents take away toy guns from little boys in an attempt to control them from behaving this way, but he reminds us that if we take away these things from little boys, they will just make a gun or "weapon" from whatever they find laying around. He talks about how his boys chew their graham crackers into the shape of handguns and how fallen branches become bazookas. I have seen this time and time again with Braden, he loves to grab a stick and "shoot shoot" the bad guys, or he'll take his baseball bat and pretend he is fighting a battle. The fearful side of me wants to jump in and stop him, to suppress this "warrior" side of him, to ask him to sit quietly and play a game because I'm afraid that if I let him play this way now, then what will it be like when he's older. I think all things come in moderation and Braden certainly still loves to play cars or fireman or hit a baseball off of his tee set in the backyard, he loves, loves, loves to swing, loves to walk around the house with his tools and fix things, he's often found reading a book or flying an airplane around the house or driving trains on his train table, he'll help me in the kitchen or work on puzzles and this stuff all fills most of his day, but there is still a small part of everyday that my little 3 yr old is pretending he is a big superhero and that he is battling the bad guys. Anyway, I love what Psalm 62 says: "One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving." I love that this verse reminds me that God, my warrior is strong, but that He, the Lion of Judah is gentle and loving as well, and this is what I pray over my boys. That they will learn to be strong and courageous, that they will be warriors for their families, warriors for a Kingdom that is worth fighting for, warriors for what is right, warriors against evil, but that they will be gentle and compassionate in how they touch, how they love, how they see the world. That they will be fierce like lions and gentle like lambs for isn't that the picture of Jesus.

One of my favorite pictures ever of my boys -

Plotting their next big adventure together -

And of course my littlest superhero still drags his monkey (his partner in crime) around EVERYWHERE he goes. I just pray we don't ever lose this monkey -

Every superhero needs a good rest -