ON FATHERS AND PRODIGAL SONS

The Scriptures do not offer much advice on family problems, but we can pick up clues. In the father of the Prodigal Son we have Jesus' model of what it is to be a parent. He is not overprotective. He allows his son the freedom to follow his own dream rather than his father's, to take risks and to make mistakes. He is still there for the son who has made a fool of himself and brought shame on the family. He absorbs the jealousy and anger of the older son but does not yield to him. He shows what it is to be a man: there when he is needed; faithful to wife and children; able for lifelong commitment; nurturing, forgiving, patient, and aware that children can learn from their mistakes.

He does not blame himself. When the boy is bursting with rehearsed self-reproaches (‘I have sinned against heaven. I am not worthy to be called your son.' Luke 15:21), the father has no time for them. Instead he blesses and heals. Children shy away from parents who blame themselves for their children's failures. We hate to be made to feel a disappointment to those we love. And we hate them to feel guilty over happenings that were not their fault. But we warm to the parent who, without any illusions about what has happened, is still ready to fall on our necks and kill the fatted calf. (from the Sacred Space)

I hope you wizen up. Please wizen up. You are going to hurt yourself, most of all.

~~~0~~~


On a lighter note, Putin is reading my blog!

Naaah. Saw The Russian Federation on my Sitemeter... hehe.

Twice.