Embracing our children for who they are…today!
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When I saw this quoted on another blog recently, I knew I had to share it here. This just goes right along with everything else the Lord has been laying on my heart. My desire to capture each moment, not take anything for granted, to live in the here and now.
Just as I am tempted to live for the “next” thing, to be always looking to the future when things will be better/different/easier…when I am tempted to be so focused on some future moment that I fail to really live here and now…
…I can so easily apply this to my kids as well. In my desire to “prepare” them for the future, I sometimes fail to really “see” them living right now! Just read this quote and see what you think:
“When we adults think of children, there is a simple truth which we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life, childhood is life. A child isn’t getting ready to live – a child is living. The child is constantly confronted with the nagging question, ‘What are you going to be?’ Courageous would be the youngster who, looking the adult squarely in the face, would say, ‘I’m not going to be anything; I already am.’ We adults would be shocked by such an insolent remark for we have forgotten, if indeed we ever knew, that a child is an active participating and contributing member of society from the time he is born. Childhood isn’t a time when he is molded into a human who will then live life; he is a human who is living life. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied him by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation.
How much heartache we would save ourselves if we would recognize the child as a partner with adults in the process of living, rather than always viewing him as an apprentice. How much we would teach each other … adults with the experience and children with the freshness. How full both our lives could be. A little child may not lead us, but at least we ought to discuss the trip with him for, after all, life is his and her journey, too.” – Professor T. Ripaldi
What do you think? This has really hit home with me today. It is just another area that I see the Lord working in my life.
I pray that this has challenged you to take a look at how you view your children.
Are you looking over their heads, to the person you want them to become?
Or are you embracing them for who they are right now?
