On Children
Kahlil Gibran
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.
Why Intentful not Intentional
Why intentful and not intentional: I was thinking about how much time I spend just thinking but not actually doing and laughed to myself that I was a "thoughtful" person but what I need to be is an "intentful" person. My thoughts need to transcend into intentional action and thus I need to move away from being "thoughtful" to "intentful".
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
{parenting}
I love this. My mom referred it to us before Elle was born, saying it was something that influenced her while parenting. I believe in intentional parenting, and I believe that part of that encompass knowing what you believe your role as a parent is.
Labels:
Ponderings
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Okay I really love this poem. It's so true, and I have often thought about it. How these children that look like us, that have our traits, that grew inside of us aren't really ours at all. I think of Hannah and the commitment she made to give her baby back to God. Hannah knew that Samuel was never hers to begin with, he was always God's. I like to think of that when I send Elijah to school, or when my baby is sick and I can't watch her breathe in and out all night long. I try and remember that they were never mine to begin with, they were always his.
ReplyDelete