a reoccuring theme

I feel as if I have addressed this issue before...perhaps I have even blogged about it here. I did not have the luxury of time to go back and read to see. Nevertheless, it is fresh in my mind again, and I feel the need to get it out.

We are in this world...we are not of this world. That is one of our family values. Never before have I had to address it so deeply with one of my children, however. You see, I have one struggling to fit in....struggling to be liked by his peers. I see him teetering dangerously on the edge of giving in to the pressure that goes with the desire to be accepted. He is not naturally a leader, and we have to fight hard to build him up to believe in himself. He is his own worst enemy. Sadly, he takes after his mother. That makes it doubly hard for me to be the one to teach him this lesson. I only know now as an adult how wonderful it is to be different from everyone else. I embrace it...because I know that being different from the world means that I am more like the One. I also know that it isn't all sugary sweet. It is hard. Sometimes very hard. This morning at breakfast, my sweet kid was ridiculing his brother and sister. That led them, in turn, to do the same to him. I was quick to point out how much "power" he had over them. Him: "I learned it at school." Me: "So?" Him: "Well, my friends didn't get in trouble for doing it." Me: "Either they didn't get caught or your teacher does not value respect among her students. My guess is that it's the former." Him: puzzled look. Me: "The point is that it is not acceptable in our family. It is, therefore, not acceptable anywhere else...even if you do not get in trouble for it. Doing a wrong thing because someone else does still makes it wrong. It also makes you just like them. Who wants to be like everyone else? If everyone were the same, life would be boring. No one would be special." Him: "Ummm. Okay." Me: Sigh. I feel like I am doing and saying all the right things. My desire is for him to learn what I had to learn on my own, without any righteous guidance. I will continue my battle. I.will.be.different.no.matter.what.