It's hard to believe that isn't it? Ten years have passed since our nation was attacked so mercilessly. Ten years that we have mourned and prayed for those lives lost on September 11th. Ten years that we have had a concrete, recent event to which a parent can point to and teach true heroism, true bravery and how sin can destroy.
As a parent we can't sit by and not explain this important date in our nation's history to our children. It's tough to put it into words, there is no doubt, but God depends on us to not only remember this day - but to learn from it, move forward with new knowledge, to teach our children. We can't teach them to be afraid. But we can teach them what heroism looks like. We can teach them how sin can corrupt and destroy.
It is our responsibility as a parent to walk that fine line between sharing the evils of the world, without teaching our children to constantly be afraid of the real and present dangers our world has to offer them. We must ground them in the truth without enclosing them in a bubble. We must prepare them with tools, but hope and pray that they never have to fight. We must give them knowledge, yet temper it with faith and trust that God is always there.
No one ever said being a parent is easy. It's the toughest job you'll ever have, and you'll grow to love it, cherish it, and honor it as the responsibility that it is......that God depends on you. No one else. You, to be the first educators of your children in the ways of the world and how they can live and work out in it.
I wrote a piece last year on explaining Sept. 11 to my daughter then 10 years old. And it's one of those I revisit from time to time to refresh my own memory, of how to gently and sincerely take the time to be with my child as each child comes of age to understand the atrocity of that day. Some children require more time than others. Some will need to cry about it. Others simple accept and nod with disappointment.
And when we circle the family around each child, we reinforce what they should have known all along, that they are not alone. This united family protects and loves and trusts that God goes before us always, that He knows our fears, He knows us and the tremendous job we have as parents to bring our little ones into the world without being afraid of it, but to challenge it to be better, challenge it to forgive and trust again. He empowers us as parents to handle this difficult task, so that good can come from these terrorist attacks. He waits for our children to be the good that comes from it....that our future might be brighter, our future might be more accepting, more forgiving and ultimately the united family that He intended us to be.
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