The Stable Bow

I just wanted to share my sister-in-law with the other readers of this blog. She's freaking amazing in so many ways. She just posted some great thoughts on her family blog, Outnumbered 4 to 2. You should check them out. :)

Somehow, I lucked out and I have the greatest siblings ever. Jeremiah and Jonathan have married remarkable women who are the greatest moms ever. They both have the most adorable families ever.

My parents did a great job raising us. I know they're not always happy with our choices, but I hope they go to sleep at night knowing that they taught us well. As one of my favorite authors, Kahlil Gibran said in his book, The Prophet:

And a woman who held a babe against
her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
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 to-
morrow, 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 chil-
dren 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.

Thank you Mom and Dad.