Own Lonely Way

About four years ago we came across the following words by Henri Nouwen:

“The greatest gift a parent can give their children is a safe place for them to find their own lonely way.”

Since then, we have adopted these words as a new mantra for the way we parent and have begun to ask ourselves the following questions as we wade through the pre-teen and teenage years:

1. How do we give our children a safe place?

2. What does it mean to live our lives in a way that is healthy and good for all six of us?

3. What does it mean to live a good and abundant life today?

4. How do we, as parents, grow into the kinds of people we want to be and make room for our children to grow into the kinds of people who are rooted in what is good and right?