Poem for Parenting

As a Director of Christian Education in the Moravian Church, I work with children and there parents a great deal. Here is a poem I've written for the children and parents I work with as well as the Board of Christian Education of the Southern Province.

The Problem in Parenting

By Steven Fuller

The Problem in Parenting is that the life that you have given is now not yours to live,

While the one who will live it knows not yet the gift it is.

Your child,

In whom so much of you is

Your heart, soul, strength, mind, and DNA

Is not yours.

It is a risky feeling. It is a tender thought.

You know the pain he will feel. You know the danger she knows not.

Yet despite yourself,

Despite your need to govern danger, manage risk, and police their loss,

You believe that life is so worth living and gifts are so worth giving

That God would give Godself, God’s son, on a cross.

It is a risky feeling. It is a tender thought.

Although life is freely lived, it is most costly bought.

May you give in hope of living, a risk you take with God

The source of all good giving, the hope of all that’s bought!