On Children
Kahlil Gibran
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 belong not to you.
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.
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.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Yaya will be going away to Spain next week. I know I raised her well and that she is a confident young woman…(I wish I could say young girl..because she will always be my little girl, but the little girl only resides in my memories)
But this trip is the beginning of her life away from me..
I don’t have any wise words of wisdom to tell my children. ( I wish I was smart and knew what to say to my child when she is standing on the thresh hold that separates a child holding her mother’s hand to a young woman standing alone)
I thought and thought as to what should be my advice to her
and I chose this
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace.
Hi Sarah, I think I've read this poem on your blog before too and it is just so beautiful. Thank you for sharing this. Seriously. Thank you.
hmmm. I thought UR an athiest..
Divs: Thanks.
Naughtybutnice: What does me being an Atheist and a writing in Ecc got to do with each other?
is it that because the said writing is in Ketuvim and also in the old testament and I have studied both texts and like it make me not an atheist, by virtue of everything in bible is God's words and atheist don't believe in God??
BTW, the writer of Ecc is supposed to be King Solomon ( the guy with 700 wives and 300 concubines!), but not many scholars agree to it and many believe it has been written much later than Solomon's time.
Although Ecc is a canonical text,Why it has been added has never been understood. ( probably because the name Solomon son of david was in the text and Solomon was supposed to be 'chacham mi'kol ha'adam' (wisest of all men) and built the first temple)
You ought to see things in a much braoder way than to assume ownership of every word in bible as God's words and anyone who says anything from the bible is either a believer or against the religion.
And to Quote Thomas wolfe “Of all I have ever seen or learned, that book ( Ecc) seems to me the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man’s life upon this earth — and also the highest flower of poetry, eloquence, and truth. I am not given to dogmatic judgments in the matter of literary creation, but if I had to make one I could say that Ecclesiastes is the greatest single piece of writing I have ever known, and the wisdom expressed in it the most lasting and profound” ( source wiki)
Truce… 🙂 I am also belong to the same church where you used to go in KTM. Iam a christian but i cant even remember anything from bibile when I want to advise someone. I was actually suprsied when U take referece from the bible. Thats Y i said that:)
Naughtybutnice: I read and studied all the holy texts before becoming an atheist.
I didn't use the poem because it was from the bible,Right now my child is standing on a threshold that changes a lot of things in her life. I found the poem a lot meaningful right now because I want her to remember that there is a time for everything and don't make any hasty decisions.