Raising our children

Isn't the circle of life wonderful? I am in constant wonder and awe at the seemingly complicated and yet wonderfully simple world in which we live. With 6 billion people busying and bustling around the earth, with work and play, and economy and culture, and world events and personal schedules, filling our lives will literally take a lifetime. With the added responsibility (and full time job) of motherhood, I feel overwhelmed with the largeness of life.

And yet I heard a beautiful phrase that breaks the mountain to conquer down into one little rock which I hold in my hand. It sums up what our entire human race is doing here, what each day is ultimately about. It has to do with the family and our roles in it. The phrase was this: we aren't raising children, we're raising parents.

Isn't that a fantastic idea that captures the idea of the circle of life? We have been raising generations and generations for thousands of years, each age in charge of bringing up the next, that our race might be a little better, that we might improve the world in which we live, that we might come a little closer to a utopian idea of love and brotherhood. We should not judge our children by the accolades they receive in school or work or the world - the fruit of our labours as parents will be evident in the types of parents our children become.

How much more responsibility do I feel, having sons? In a time when the role of the father is diminishing, where children see less and less discipline, and see less and less of their own fathers; in an age where the pursuit of happiness is equated with wealth and power and fame; during an era which is seeing the destruction of the family; I know my work is cut out for me, and yet I feel the immense importance of what I am doing.

I pray for the strength and wisdom I need to raise good parents.