I never thought that I would be so proud of someone taking a pee in all my life. However, that emotion has now been ascribed to that act in a way that I’ll never forget. No, I don’t have a family member suffering from a watermelon sized prostate that managed to release a couple drops of relief. Instead, it was my son.

The other night we were playing when he grabbed his diaper, said, “potty” and ran into the bathroom. We put the special lid on for him and he started peeing. To top it all off he kept saying, “pssss pssss,” mimicking the sound. It was a wonderful achievement. He has gone on the toilet a couple of times but only after we set him on it and wait a while. This was all initiated by him.

We haven’t really began to push the potty training so this was a delightfully serendipitous event. Our doctor told us there’s no rush on potty training and I politely reminded her that a case of diapers rivals the price of a barrel of oil nowadays! I figured out that every time we change a diaper our kids have literally “pissed away” a quarter–and that’s

I couldn’t believe how proud of him I was at that moment! I started to think about the different times I had felt like I made my father proud. Between winning wrestling tournaments, playing in bands, high school & college graduations, moving into full time ministry, and producing grandchildren I’m sure my dad has been proud of me. But, when I think about how I felt listening to my son’s urine hit the water I realized that it doesn’t take trophies, medals, or college degrees to make your parents happy. Just simply growing up brings them much joy.

When Jesus gets baptized by his eccentric cousin, Matthew 3:17 says, “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” This was before Jesus’ public ministry began– he hadn’t done anything significant. He hadn’t healed anybody, walked on water, fed a multitude, preached a sermon, ridden a camel backwards on a dare, nothing (well that last one is debatable). God was simply proud of his son for being his son and being obedient to the call on his life.

The same is true for us. All we have to do is be obedient to God and he is proud of us. It doesn’t matter if you’re TD Jakes or if you’re just some guy named Jake. When we are in right standing with God, he looks at us and smiles just because we are his.

It was the sound of pee that reminded me of this and challenged me to make sure that my children know that I am proud of them regardless of their acheivements, but simply because they are mine.