Noel Manuel
Getting your child to know God is the responsibility of every parent. It is a way of introducing them into the spiritual perspective of life. We know how important it is for them to have a relationship with the creator. And every parent continually works towards strengthening this liaison.
When we do not have a spiritual life, the world around us is filled with negativity and flaws. Our actions have no apparent purpose and there is a deep void within our soul. Whatever we strive to aim gets more complex and there is no consciousness of peace within us.
The relationship with our creator is perpetual. No other relationship guarantees us more joy, peace, love, happiness and understanding than the bond we share with our creator.
A gardener cultivated a large variety of flowers to earn his daily bread. There was not a single variety of flower that he did not cultivate. He was very popular among the local people. His flowers were always in great demand. They were of high quality and suited every occasion. The farmer took special care of the different varieties of flowers he cultivated. However, there was one variety that needed that ‘little extra’ attention. He was aware that if he neglected this particular variety even for a single day, it would wither and finally die. His consciousness towards this particular variety was twice as high as compared towards the other flowers. The variety that demanded more attention also earned the farmer high revenues, as compared to all the other flowers that he had. The farmer was aware of this importance and consistently endeavoured to keep his income activated.
Among other relationships, how much effort are we putting into our children’s relationship with God to keep their soul alive?
In life our children grow up to nurture different types of relationships as they mature. Relationships with friends, parents, relatives, societies, communities, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives.
Each of these relationships is significant in their own special way. And we do every thing we can do sustain these relationships. However, like the farmer who understood the significance of that special variety of flower that kept his income activated, we need to teach our kids, what relationship really sustains them the most.
Every relationship takes its own form of growth and this growth largely depends on how much effort, sincerity, dedication, love, belief and understanding have been sowed into this relationship. The more positive you are towards a relationship, be it any relationship, it is bound to take growth. What is important is how we sustain a relationship.
Our children need food for the body, mind and soul. We know how important it is to develop these three important characteristics in our children. When our children don’t eat, we turn worried. Poor academic results agitate us and make us seek alternative options. What remedies do we seek when our children fail to pray or acknowledge God? How concerned do we get when they turn away from the relationship with God, even if it were for a single day?
As much as our children need studies and food to nourish their mind and body every day, they equally need prayers to nourish their soul. They worry you when they don’t eat. Does the same happen when they don’t pray? Eating or studying is not a weekly exercise. It happens everyday. As much as three to four hours or even more is spent on each activity daily. Do we actually allow our kids to spend the same amount of time on prayers everyday or do we confine it to a weekly exercise?
This thought first came to my mind when my eldest son failed to have his dinner one night. I was restless and could not get a wink of sleep till I was convinced that he had something to eat. My concern was nothing less when my youngest son failed to make it to the next grade a couple of months later. So much concern for the physical and mental growth, I thought to myself. Am I really doing twice as much for their spiritual growth? As much as our concern lies in our children’s physical and mental growth, an equally bigger concern should rest on their spiritual development.
Our role as parents is only for a while and during our relationship with our kids there are actually only two kinds of developments that we concentrate our efforts on – mental and physical. Whatever other developments that take place within our children largely depend on how responsible we are towards nurturing these other developments.
The development of spirituality in our kids is the greatest gift that every parent ought to give their child.
The book of Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 says that ‘The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom.’ If our children are to gain wisdom then a relationship with God has to be nurtured and we need to assist them in acknowledging this relationship through prayer everyday.
Our children are oblivious of how to worship until we teach them through regular communions with the lord. We need to teach our children how to praise God to allow this relationship blossom like no other. We need to set aside more time each day to allow them to understand the relationship they share with our saviour.
Let us allow ourselves to be like the gardener, who among other flowers understood the importance of one particular variety and spent more time with it. Let our kids know the relationship they share with God and spend more time to understand the importance of this relationship.
noelmanuel@rediffmail.com
The writer is the Coordinator of the Northeast Region (Poetry Society of India) and Life Member of the Poetry Society of India. Journalist and Correspondent Eastern Panorama (News Magazine of the Northeast) Phonetics Teacher
