Quote from Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet"...On Children

Whenever I find myself in a difficult position throughout life, I like to sit down with this book to find some inspiration. Writer Mom's post inspired me to pick it up again to put my 'mother ego' in check. I hope others experience similar peace after reading this:

"And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.



You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.



You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."



It was hard for me to internalize some of this, as I once thought myself an archer. However, the more I look around this world, we really are the stable bow, the foundation of the archer's aim. None of us can know who our children will be when they become adults, we can only imagine and dream, and provide them with the best environment that will enable them to make the best choices to help themselves thrive. As experienced parents with grown children must know, we parents of young children need to know we are not, nor should be, the sole influence that shapes our children's lives. When they are little, we have absolute knowledge of whom they are exposed to, but as they age, the many tiny strands of parental influence are snipped ever so slowly. Hopefully those first few years provide the security and education for a strong moral foundation that holds our children up to eventually provide their lives and children with strength and integrity. Bless the parents that know their 'job' is incredibly important to the structure of our future. Someone has to hold a few of the living arrows carefully, so they may go swift and far. Bless you Angie and Tom, and all their insightful blogger friends for caring so much. You make a difference.