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News From the Front Line

 These days, using military imagery is a loaded thing. However, I can think of no better image to use when discussing Christian parenting. The most important job any person can do is help children to become good, moral, decent Christian persons. We win some battles and we lose more than we want to admit. 

It is so important for us to keep the dialogue about spiritual health going as our children get older. I don't mean we badger them, but we should ask how their spiritual health is just as much as we inquire about their physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual state. I try to do this often with my young adult children. 

It is also important to be available and to encourage our children to figure things out on their own. We aren't always going to be there to offer advice, and we shouldn't offer it unsolicited. Some questions have to be wrestled with to form virtues in our lives.

I encourage my children to practice virtue and to encourage it in others. They don't always listen to that encouragement, but I put it out there often so it remains in their minds. 

It has been a long time since I have written a blog post, so to give a quick update, my girls have graduated high school and are working and taking online college courses. One of my sons is a senior in high school and the other is a sophomore. I am serving as a leader for my parish teen group and in the music ministry. I do gigs, singing, when I can get them. I have two bionic hips. I have been diagnosed with a heritable collagen disorder which comes bringing lots of conditions such as POTS, Fibromyalgia, lax and frequently dislocated joints, dysautonomia, and multiple other issues. As I become more content with life in general, my body rebels. 

"But do everything without arguing or complaining that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine as stars in the universe." - the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians

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