Before you begin any project, you must have a goal of where you want to end up! My children are no different. I have been contemplating making a lot of changes in our home, implementing them slowly of course, because too much change is overwhelming. However, as I started to list out the things I wanted to change, I realized that I didn't have much of a direction or idea of where I wanted to end up. So, I needed to have a goal. Brian and I have discussed often of where we hope to be in 20 years with our children and really there are two goals that we have for our lives and these transcend to our children:
1. That our lives are centered on Christ and are obedient to His will.
2. That we live a life of servitude towards others.
These two goals are based upon what Christ has commanded for us all.
"When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." Matthew 22: 34-40.
We must focus our hearts on Christ first and foremost. Every day we must spend time with God; there is no greater joy than that. Time must be spent in prayer, reflection, reading of the Scripture and gaining a deeper understanding of our faith. Through the Holy Mass, we can participate in Christ's redemption that was done for us on the cross. In Adoration, we open our hearts and minds to Christ and allow Him to permeate our inmost being. After Christ, we serve others. It is in serving others that our own true happiness can be achieved. This is so counter-cultural in a world that tells us "It's all about me" and "What's in it for me?".
I am confident that if our children live for Christ and to serve others, they will achieve a happy life with eternal salvation. Knowing that they are sinners just like all of us, they will be tempted and faced with great challenges and adversity. Following Christ is not an easy path and they will be ridiculed by others for it. But their reward in Heaven shall be great.
But how to guide them?
This is something that I will be working through for the next 18 years and I know that my plan will change and get tweaked as the years go on. For now, I am relying on the Holy Spirit to guide me. I feel that God is speaking to me more than He ever has before; or maybe I am just listening better?! My salvation and theirs is on the line and I want to make sure that I do everything I can to guide them to Christ.
As my boys grow into young men, the world will ask them "What do you want to be when you grow up?". I hope that rather than asking that, they are asking "With the skills and talents that God has given me, how can I do God's will so that I can serve others?". They must realize that we are merely God's instruments for His plan! When our will becomes God's will, true communion with Christ happens!
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) couldn't have said it better:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
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