This is for you. If there is anybody out there reading my blog who is a parent, God has laid this on my heart to share with you, and I pray that - at the very least - God speaks to you through it in some small way.
I have been in contact with too many Christian young adults who are dealing with - and have dealt with - so many things. Dark things. Emotionally disturbing things. Horrible past things. Temptation things. Self image things. Harmful things. Isolated things... and the list goes on.
What is wrong with this picture? Why are these young Christians being so badly affected and ensnared by the things of the world when they should be liberated, confident, stable, stalwart, peace and joy-filled pillars of the Church? Between the moment they were born, up till the time they became adults, what went wrong?
This is why I am writing this letter.
Parents, your children are vessels. What you pour into them will overflow by the time they reach the age of about 16. And what you don't plant in their lives, will not grow. Also, what others may force into their lives, will fester in secret.
I'm not talking about a typical education or life skills here, folks. I'm talking about something far more serious. Not their bodily needs, nor their education, not even their mind or intellect. If you consider yourself a good parent, these things should already be high on your priorities list. But no: what I am speaking of, is their heart.
Think about it. Do you know your child's heart? Do you know what keeps them awake at night? Do you understand why they respond to different people a certain way? What the reasons are behind their reactions to certain things? What their dreams are? Their hopes? Fears? How about what gives them guilt, or makes them feel ashamed? Are you inside their mind enough to sense when something is wrong, even slightly? Do you know their friends? Their joys? Their hobbies? Do you know their secrets? Does their hearts beat in time with yours?
You may think this is too deep; that knowing these things are delving too far into the reaches of your child. I mean, children need their privacy too.
"NO!"
Sorry for my over-emphatic reply, but this is not true. As your childrens' parents, it should be your sole design to know everything about them! How can you fully understand how best to cultivate something you have been given unless you learn and know everything about it?
A mechanic knows everything about a car, so that whenever something goes even slightly amiss - not even something serious - he knows exactly how to rectify it and make it run even better than before.
This is very important: Parents, you are the primary cause of what kind of adult your child will become.
