The Analogy of the Screws

I asked my son to do something. His quick response is the expected, "No!" At first I ignored his response. Then I wondered if I should ignore it. It's not really ok for him to tell me "no," is it? I could tell him again, as I have so many time before, that it's not ok for him to tell me no, but that would be fruitless and would be accompanied with a, "You hate me!" Another comment becoming all to common. But, I love him. And I am just so tired of fighting with him. What can I do... and I really wondered about it... and a scene comes into my head about two boards and some screws.

And, then, I wake up.

And I think about my dream until the alarm goes off.

I get up.

I go upstairs to wake up my son.

I kiss his his forehead. I kneel beside the bed and slide him down onto my lap for him morning prayer. (I do this with him almost every morning.)

He folds his arms. Bows his head, props it against the side of the bed. And I wait.

He goes back to sleep. (Ugh! Fighting already...)

I slide him off my lap onto the floor next to me saying my legs can't sit like that any longer and I kneel up higher.

He prays.

While on my knees we make his bed (whew, no fight).

I sit down on his bed and asked the dreaded question. "Do you want to start with your clothes or your toys?" meaning, tidy your room quickly. (I actually don't see any toys this morning.)

Whine... whine... whine... but, he begins picking up his clothes.

And I wonder about my dream. Should I share it with him? I sit down on the floor again and motion for him to come sit with me. He snuggles right up in my arms. And this is what I remember telling him:

"I had a dream last night about us. You told me, 'No!' but I really wanted you to know how much I love you and I wondered how I could make sure you knew. 

"And then in my dream I saw two boards that needed to be screwed together. It came with screws, but, I already had some screws.

"Mine were golden and I chose to use mine instead; but, after screwing the boards together I saw the top of my screws wouldn't fit inside the board right because the tops were square instead of round. I realized then that I should have used what had been given to me."



He thinks about it for a minute. Then gets up and I'm off to wake up his sister.

Later that morning, I ask him to start his piano practice.

"Ok, Mom!" he answers happily. (Now that was completely unexpected!) I could tell he felt loved though.

But, what does the dream mean? Anything?