Baby Bronwyn about nine months old
Photo Credit: Sara Westbrook www.westbrookphotos.com
"Jon Kabat-Zinn, a meditation teacher who writes about mindful parenting, suggests that we think of our children as Zen masters housed in small bodies, who come into our lives to push at all of our fixed ideas. They are our best teachers, he says, and one way or another they will teach us whatever hard lessons we most need to learn." Mitten Strings for God, Katrina Kenison, p. 87 (italics added by blogger).
Before I had Bronwyn I thought I was basically perfect. No, this wasn't a stuck-up, snotty, self-centered, idea. I just thought I had done really well in my life, made good choices, had good friends, and basically if I hadn't really messed up by then I was pretty free and clear to the end.
I never imagined that my zen master would come in the form of a little baby. How could that zen master housed in that tiny body rearrange so much of my thinking? Perhaps it was deceiving that this BIG spirit would come in such a small package.
When I read the above quote found in Mitten Strings for God, I couldn't stop thinking about it. For me, it rang true. As I interacted with my kids I would hear the words "zen masters" in my mind. Or more acurately when I was being tested to the very edges of all patience I would hear "zen masters." They are here to teach me as much, if not more, than I am here to teach them. I even imagined this very picture of Bronwyn to accompany a blog entry. I think I read those words over a month ago--and I have still had the idea waxing in my head.
"They are our best teachers, and one way or another they will teach us whatever hard lessons we most need to learn." I have had to learn hard lessons about pride, comparisons, expectations and unconditional love. I certainly feel that this role as mother is a role that I cannot expect to fulfill on my own. I must lean upon God, who sent these particular "zen masters" to my home. He knows what I need to learn and how I must be taught--and of course, what they must be taught.
More of these darling pictures of Bronwyn for those who might not have viewed them in my pre-blog days:
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