what I’ve learned from my kids

… and am still learning.

(a reflection on Father’s Day, 2016)

1. What I think I already know

… is always only part of the story.

2. If I already know,

… I can no longer learn.

3. I should not believe everything I’m told,

… questioning is an important virtue.

~~~

4. To love means to seek to understand

… more than to be understood.

5. The beginning of understanding is listening,

… without talking.

6. Unconditional love is unconditional,

… period.

~~~

7. (7 is the perfect number) A loving heart is revealed by the friends we choose,

… often friends without friends.

8. A loving heart is revealed by the friends we stick with,

… no matter what.

9. A loving heart welcomes the stranger

… embracing differences.

~~~

10. “Telling” is more of an act of dominance

… than love.

11. All true change comes from within ourselves,

… not from outside ourselves.

12. Therefore we must learn to listen to the inner teacher,

… the still, small voice.

~~~

13. We must remember that the voice of the smallest, of the “least of these”,

… often is full of the greatest wisdom.

14. Wisdom may be shouted from on high among many loud and competing voices,

… but is speaking most clearly yet quietly in the lowest places.

15. Wisdom is always speaking, with and without words, but is never heard,

… unless we are listening.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

These things I have learned not so much by being a father but more so by being a listener, an observer of these precious lives as they grow. Truly they have been my role models, my teachers.

I can only wish I understood these things during the whole time that I was parenting them….

Thank you Joel, Evan, and Myka.

For more see,

Raising Kids Alone: https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/raising-kids-alone/

The Search for Wisdom: https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/the-search-for-truth

 

 

Tagged: listening, love, presence, unconditional

Posted in: Living with open hands