Open
Up to the Miracle of TransformationChildren touch your heart in ways you cannot predict—a child will change you inside out and introduce you to a new dimension of your spiritual being. They will bring new adventure, new people, new ideas, new feelings, joys, and sorrows into your life. They will take you to places inside your soul you may never have known before. This can be an enlightening, blessed journey if you open your heart and remain vulnerable, but if your heart is closed and your mind locked tightly in a rigid mind-set, you are going to have many struggles and not much success. When you remain open to all the wonderful miracles of transformation, life with your child will become deeply fulfilling.My experience is that most parents reach adulthood with some emotional scars of their own. Staying open to your children will give you the opportunity to heal the wounds of your own childhood.
Here’s an example: When Cindy’s daughter was two years old, Cindy came to the painful realization that her own parents never spent time with her at night. Instead she had been sent off to bed night after night, alone, fearful, and crying. One evening while reading a bedtime story to her daughter, she remembered her loneliness at night and her longing for her mother’s comfort. For the first time she understood her fear of the dark.
By allowing herself to be open to her child and to her own wounded heart, she was able to heal this long-repressed memory. With this recognition came the transformation of fear to understanding.
Copyright 1996 by Judy Ford. Reprinted here with permission from Conari Press. This essay may be printed out for personal use but may not be reproduced in any manner, including electronic, without prior written permission from the publisher.
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