Isn’t it a joy raising children? My wife and I love our son and daughter, 12 and 15, now. They are growing up too fast for me. I enjoy having them around the house, watching them learn in school, see them develop new skills, and having the opportunity to guide them morally and spiritually around the temptations of the world. As they grow, I grow, and as I grow, they grow.

There have been challenging times in knowing the right thing to do with the children. But each time I remind myself that God created each young one in His/Her own image and likeness. Each child is whole and perfect just the way they were divinely conceived. My role as a parent is to bear witness to God’s unique creation unfolding within our family and to remember that all the ingredients for a happy healthy child are built into a child’s individuality. We are to see what God put there originally and let it activate in the context of a loving and supportive home environment.

Raising children is raising consciousness–raising consciousness to the spiritual truth about each child.

I learned early on I didn’t have to form and shape our children. They were already formed and shaped spiritually. Like a tightly closed rosebud, all the ingredients for a beautiful rose are contained within the bud. We cannot force the bud open and human will a rose. We have to let that bud open according to the laws of nature and let it unfold in its own unique special way.

Children are like rosebuds. The good and intelligence is all there!

When some needed quality appears to be lacking in a child, we pray to see what God put there to begin with, and it becomes more evident to us.

Raising children is raising consciousness—raising thought to the truth about God’s child. In Truth, we find the perfect one of God’s creating. And what a joy it is to welcome into the family.