Bedtime Prayers, Teenage Sons and Purity Rings

It's after 10:00 pm. I'm washing my face and getting ready for bed, when I hear a knock on the bedroom door.

I don't need to ask who it is.

It's Zach, wanting me to pray for him before he goes to sleep. Even though he is 16.

So I grab his hand and say a quick prayer

Of blessing

Of sweet dreams

Of a good day at school tomorrow

Of protection.

Prayers that have been murmured from the lips and knees and hearts of many parents. And grandparents. Throughout time.

Sometimes I sing a silly song.

A prayer-song that I made up when he was just a little guy:

Dear Jesus, watch over my Zachary

And help him sleep safe through the night

Oh, keep your angels near and help him have no fear

Until he wakes at morning light.

I sing it in a cowboy twang

With lots of swaying and clapping

And end with a Yeehaw!

Zach rolls his eyes and hugs me, side-armed and sometimes pats my head or rests his chin in my hair,

his signs of affection,

since goodnight kisses got packed away with the stuffed animals and bedtime stories and lego blocks.

But for whatever reason, Goodnight prayers are still acceptable.

And so is faith.

Last month, when Zach turned 16, we gave him a purity ring,

a vow between him and God

and a someday-in-the-future bride.

A ring he picked out,

inscribed with Latin, amor vincit omnia,

Love conquers all,

which the jeweler thought was great.

"We don't sell many purity rings to guys," she said.

And we both wondered why.

We told Zach that he could open his ring

after his friends had gone home,

when the party was over,

But Zach said, "No. I want my friends to see my ring."

And so he unwrapped it

in front of his friends,

some who understood and some who didn't,

but they all admired it.

And I admired my son

who taught me a lesson--"This is who I am. I have nothing to hide."

Maybe Zach should pray for me before I go to bed.