Your children come through you, but not from you...

In Kahlil Gibran's book, "The Prophet" there is a chapter dedicated to children.  In it, his main character, The Prophet, says:

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they do not belong to you."

How true this is.  I strive to be the best parent possible, and yet on the face of it, I fail often on my efforts to be the parent I strive to be.

"You may give them your love, but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."

He goes on to talk about the pain of parenting...

"You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far."

And then Gibran asks us as parents to give willingly....

"Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness:
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves the bow that is stable."

I guess that is the trick isn't it?  I need to be as stable as possible, bare the pain and give the task 100% of my strength.

The two hardest things I've ever done in my 49+ years on earth is:
1.  Stay married
2.  Raise two kids.

The jury is still out on both of these things.  Let's just say that I've done my best.  The chips fall where they may.....