Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31a, NKJV

Solicitude, an attitude of attentive care and protectiveness; could aptly be defined as that time between when you hand your child the keys to the car, and when you hear the door safely close upon his or her return.
There are a lot of mixed emotions involved with the parenting of a child at any age, but it is especially difficult to watch without emotion as they step out into the wide, wide world on their own. There is pride in this moment, of course, on realizing what they have accomplished in their few years, but tempered by both the fact that this is one more step closer toward leaving the nest, and that there are many dangers and trials awaiting “out there.”
Each person, even as a child, is an individual, and though we do our best as a parent, we do not have total control over their thoughts or actions, nor should we. It is far better to lead them with lines of love than to bind them with chains of compulsion. The scriptures are filled with such admonitions, including the “Love” chapter of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13. Paul also counseled the church at Ephesus concerning love within the family, between husbands and wives, and between parents and children. (Ephesians 5:22-6:4)
Jesus summed up the Commandments, Laws and Prophets with these words: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31, NKJV)
All that about love having been said, perhaps we need to step back a little and look at children as ‘neighbors.’ Read again Jesus’ words. We “own” neither our neighbors nor our children. As full-fledged individuals, neither are extensions of ourselves. True, we have a special responsibility to, and relationship with, our offspring, but they are not possessions to be used at our whim, nor as avenues to vicariously attain goals that perhaps eluded us. I have witnessed examples where parents forced children into activities the children did not desire, have read too many stories of abused children, and observed cases where people probably treated their neighbors better than they did their own children.
What do we wish for ourselves? Certainly, we wish to love and to be loved, to be safe from harm, and the freedom to express ourselves as an individual.
While Jesus especially showed concern for little children, he expanded the “neighborhood” in the parable of The Good Samaritan . (Luke 10:25-37) And Jesus replied, “Go and do likewise”
February 6. 2005