The Heart of a Child

Day by day I change my thinking about raising our two boys.  With so many books, and websites, and Oprah guests to provide guidance on the absolute right way to raise a child, it's easy to get overwhelmed.  Trying to memorize all of the ingredients that go into the recipe for a good kid according to the experts is impossible.  So many guidelines.  So many rules.  But then the boys will do something that makes me think they have the secret to life far more figured out than the experts do.  I watch them and think of Jesus trying to put to rest the fears of those trying to memorize the 10 commandments and countless laws that went into being a good person according to the Oprah guests of his time.  He said, and I paraphrase a bit, listen, it's not that complicated: "Love God and love one another."  The rest will surely follow.  I watched the following sequence of photos unfold this weekend and reminded myself that in raising our boys into men, there's a lot of the child worth bringing along.