When I finished reading this chapter, my first thought was...."child advocacy begins in my own home, with my own children".
What conviction this chapter brought to me as a parent. It's not that I don't care about my own children, but when I think about child advocacy, images of my daughters don't pop into my head. Instead, I imagine the children living in extreme poverty all over the world.
Nurturing a child's sense of personal worth and therefore hope and dreams for a wonderful future is perhaps the most important responsibility of every grownup in a child's life. ~p. 36
I love how Wess outlines three ways to approach the task of nurturing our children's dreams:
1. Go to them. Enter their world.
The openness and sincerity of a child is amazing when you find ways to tear down the social barriers of parent/child, big/little, old/young, strong/weak, and right/wrong that usually dominate the relationship. ~p. 46
2. Bring them into your world.
Being befriended by the greatest man I knew shaped my character, made me feel valued, and let me dream big dreams. ~p. 48
3. Merge the two worlds. Along the way, and day by day.
We go far beyond the responsibility and role of guardian; in fact, we are no longer aware when we "playfully" enter their world or "deliberately" included them in ours. Instead, we genuinely like being with each other. This is child discipleship at its best. ~p. 50
I have so much to learn, and I'm thankful you are all here with me. Your comments are challenging me to think more deeply and pray more fervently. Now I'm off to find a spider with my girls, then perhaps we'll come in and bake some zucchini bread together.
What was significant to you about this chapter?
