Our Children

I am a mother, and I tell you that this vocation, which is not learned at university, is one of the most difficult in our lives and the one into which we must put the greatest effort, because earning top marks is almost impossible.

Fortunately, God came into my life—or rather, I came to God, because He had always been there for me—and He is the one who has helped me through every difficult stage in the life of a young person and that of their parents.

This trial becomes even more difficult because we are not prepared to face it. We think that we will always have control over that being who was one day born from our womb and whom we believe is obliged to submit to our rules, and it is during adolescence that we realize what we failed to do to prepare the ground so that the stones we encounter will be as few as possible. Only then do we experience control slipping from our hands, and we fall prey to a sense of helplessness that sometimes causes us to lose control, with all the consequences this entails.

If we have managed to prepare properly for this stage, it will bring us even closer to our children, and they will be receptive to our advice. The secret is not to give up. At first, adolescents do not want to listen, but through our perseverance and love—above all, by avoiding confrontations—they will gradually understand everything we want to convey to them, especially if we are fair in our judgments and show them evidence and testimonies from our own lives that help them see that we are not perfect either. In this way, we will get them to open up to us and entrust us with their feelings, and this is the only way we can help them.

Sometimes we behave toward our children as though we were perfect; nothing drives a young person further away from their parents than feeling judged by someone like that. Let us not deceive ourselves: we are not perfect, and those of us who are in Christ have improved, but we still have a long way to go. I wish you could see me following my son around the house with the Bible in my hand, trying to make him understand that only the Word of God guides me as I try to help him become a better person for the Lord, and that nothing comes from my finite mind, but rather from the infinite mind of God and His Eternal Word.

I feel sorry for parents who do not know God, because I am convinced that “Unless Jehovah builds the house, those who build it labor in vain,” and those of us who were not born into a Christian home feel a holy envy of those who were, because God tells us in His Word, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” You feel how much God is needed in a human being’s life when you have children who came to the gospel late because you yourself came late, and this becomes a chain. My children, for example, came to know Christ because approximately eight years ago I gave my life to Him. I thank God that they are all walking in His ways, but the journey was not easy. Therefore, I recommend that young people come to the feet of the Lord sooner rather than later, so that He may smooth the path as we raise our children. Remember what the Psalmist said: “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them; he will not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the gate” (Psalm 127:4, 5).

And I tell you that this is fulfilled only if we have a steady hand and the aim needed to guide those arrows toward the perfect target, which is Christ.