Thinking about Journeys

I have been listening (as you all know.... lol) to a lot of Scott Hahn lately. It has been nice to revisit Scott and hear some of the stories of his life sprinkled in his talks and testimony.

Listening to his talks on this conversion and Confession I heard again about his childhood. He was basically a juvenile delinquent. Then, he was put on a path to Christ in his teen years and bound for the ministry at age 17. Then of course he found the road to Rome.

But, thinking about homeschooling our kids today. Trying to find the 'best' way, method, etc. Making sure we do 'enough'. And not 'too much'. (lest it squelch the love of learning).

I am beginning to think that really most of this stuff is out of my hands. That is a funny thought considering how much blood sweat and tears I have put into this endeavor, especially in the early more schoolish years.

I did not hear Scott Hahn once mention a 'subject' that he found important to him on his life journey. What I did hear was his love of truth and desire to learn. And also his famous tenacity to search and research.

How do you teach that? His home was not perfect. His dad had a German temper. He was in public schools. I gather he did not have as close of a relationship as many families I know have with their kids. In a way the adversarial relationship may have spurred him in his search.

So, do I need to create adversity?

When you look at people and their successful lives (I am defining success in terms of strong faith and ordered family life and giving back to God)-- what can I see in their childhood that gave them the tools? It seems there is a variety of experiences... good loving families that gave them the roots. But sometimes it was adversity that caused them to search. Or both.

Fr. Groeschel talked about the virtue of faith in his CD. He said that it is a gift. We have to be open to it but cannot manufacture it. But we must be open. Until we have this virtue others could evangelize all they want and it does no good. I can't forcefully infuse this into my kids.

So.... what is the role as parent? What do I need to give my kids, if not subjects which are often long forgotten?

It is easy to see (well, not easy but becoming apparent) that we really have little ultimate control. So do we do nothing?

No. When we disengage, often the kids are worse off than when we over engage. Kids need those boundaries, love, guidance. But we can't manufacture the outcome we want.

Nuts.

So what do we do/give?

Thinking out loud-

Truth.
Authenticity (and not hypocracy)
Share my loves and passions, especially my faith journey
Share love of learning about God's creation
Help them to learn to order their lives

And let God do the rest?

(notice the question mark at the end...)