(For anyone with children (of any age) or anyone important in a child's life.)
And the woman from the back of the book store said, Speak to us of Children! And she said: "You think they're yours, ....but they're not...really. Sure, your job is to protect, feed, house and give them tools to flourish in this world But they're not yours to mold into replicas of you or who you long to be or want them to be. You can teach them to look inward for answers by listening well and giving them reasonable choices, or You can teach them only to do what they're told so they'll learn to follow authority or someday a domineering spouse that you'll wish you didn't have to spend family dinners with... You can show them gratitude by wisely providing what they need or you can give them everything their hearts desire so you can feel like an awesome parent who may someday feel irritated by and ache for entitled grandchildren. You can honor their passion and hard work so they can do great things for themselves and others, or you can pressure them to achieve so you can believe you've achieved as a parent who they may not have time for as they endlessly search the world for approval. You can teach them compassion by responding to their pain or you can teach them to toughen up, ignore their hurt so they'll learn their pain, their children's pain and even your pain doesn't really matter. You can teach them to approach the world with a kind and open heart or you can unburden yourself of your fears so they too can learn to fear and hate and you can spend precious moments together discussing how much better the world would be if it weren't for "those" people... Kahlil Gibran, in the "The Prophet" said, - 'You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.' but I guess if you want, you could stick them in the bow and arrow case until one day you wish you hadn't and you take them out to find that you've both become brittle and inflexible and no one may fly anywhere... but then you could always put your pride into the case and humbly recognize it's never too late to listen well, ask about their passion, show them compassion, and spend your precious moments talking about how it's never too late to fly. Courtney A Brown
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"Divine" references the soul, our collective souls and the mystery of life. ArchivesCategories
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