Jesus and the Hulk

This was Charlie's first Halloween costume for a reason!

Posted by Molly

Ginger’s post made me think of my own struggles with motherhood.

The biggest challenge for me is dealing with my younger son, Charlie’s, rage. People laugh at me when I refer to his tantrums as a “rage problem” because he is barely three and looks like an angel. He is sweet and charming most of the time but his entire personality can turn on a dime if he thinks he has in some way been wronged. And when Charlie gets upset he doesn’t throw your run of the mill temper tantrum. He truly rages out much like when Bruce Banner turns into the Incredible Hulk. When Charlie is raging all I can do is try to stay calm and keep him from hurting himself or someone else. In a few minutes the rage subsides and he slowly returns to form. But for that 5 to 20 minutes when he is mad, it’s ugly and exhausting – for both of us.

On St Patrick’s Day after we dropped Mac off at school, Charlie and I walked over to the rectory to hand out lottery tickets in hopes that someone from St Raphael’s would have the luck of the Irish. Charlie loves going to the rectory because there is usually a bowl of lifesavers. He was wearing his St Patrick’s Day hat and singing Mrs. Vassallo’s leprechaun song when we rang the doorbell. He was happy and excited to see Eileen and Father Charlie and give them the lotto tickets. Then he noticed the lifesaver bowl was empty and suddenly this cute child turned into the Hulk. He screamed. He growled. He pumped his fists. He stomped his feet. And then he went running towards the back of the rectory. I ran after him because I didn’t want him to break anything. He was screaming the whole way and then suddenly he saw the big wooden nativity in the back hallway. He stopped dead in his tracks.
All the redness left his face. He smiled and said to me in his sweet little voice “Look, it’s Jesus. What a cute little baby Jesus he is”. And with that he was back to his normal little angel self again. He walked calmly back up front, said goodbye and held my hand as we walked to the car. It was as if the rage never happened.

Now if I can just get him near a nativity every time he rages out we’ll be in good shape.

All joking aside, I truly believe that in that moment God spoke to Charlie and his connection to the baby Jesus calmed him down. To me it was a miracle. Small miracles like this happen in our lives every day. Look for them in your own life and you will be humbled and amazed. Knowing that God is there, helping us and our children makes all our trials a little easier.