My Son Became a Man Yesterday

So we're driving down to the church last night, as we do most nights, and my son and daughter are sitting in the back seat as we're driving. My son begins to make noises that sound like flatulence in his armpit, which is not too surprising, since he's 9 and a he's a boy.

After his beautiful display of armpit control he says, "hey, my hand stinks".

I'm in the front seat, and I'm a bit curious, why his hand would stink, but I don't want to smell it. So I ask his sister to smell it. She does, and it does in fact stink. So, reluctantly, from a distance, I smell his hand, and sure enough my assumptions are confirmed. My son is now producing body odor.

Its kinda weird. My 9 year old son, who used to be my little man, before that my baby, is now becoming a man. The arrival of adolescent body odor must be indicative of the soon arrival of the next phase of maturity- of which I am neither prepared for or excited about. It is what it is. Its on its way.

So last night after church I took him to the store and bought him his first Speed Stick. Ocean fresh scent. Again, weird. Its even weird to write about it.

Here's what I was thinking as were driving home last night from the store- this is what a Dad is supposed to be doing. Teaching his son about the effects of pre-pubescent body odor and empowering him to not smell like a dead animal. As a parent it is my job to help my children become productive members of society. Sometimes, that entails letting them know that they stink, and that they need to clean up if they want to be as productive as possible.

Its raises the question- do the people whom I meet that have a pungent odor not care about their odor, or have they never been taught how to apply deodorant? Have they never had anyone in their life that helped them see some things about their life that they should change? Or do they simply not care?

What's the nugget for the day? We all stink. At some point we either realize it and do something about it, or someone else lets us know and we choose to do something about it or ignore it. Once the stink has been revealed in our life, it is up to us what we do with it. You can choose to stink, but the vast majority of people that you meet will be repelled by an overly powerful natural body odor.

Do you stink? Literally or figuratively? Do something about it. Clean up those areas of your life that are overly pungent or displeasing. That's part of what maturity is, realizing that there are things about you that may not be the most pleasing, and doing something about it to clean it up.

Be clean, and blessed
matt