Heaven is the goal!

(originally written in 2005)

So you are home schooling your children and you have had a friend over to play with your 4th grader. This kid is smart. He plays the piano, he is in advanced classes all across the board, you about pass out when he starts quoting a book that you didn’t even read until college. You then look back at your beautiful 10 year old son. This poor boy cannot read at all. It is near impossible to read what he attempts to write. His work is always sloppy and he would do anything to get out of the classroom. You send his friend home and begin to really judge your son. How can he be this lazy and unmotivated? What, how dare you judge your own son that way?

What am I talking about? Your son will need to lead a family some day; he must learn his math and his reading. He will need to provide for a wife and children (God willing) or better yet run a parish, a diocese, or maybe even the entire Catholic Church. Wow, how can you see your little under achiever as the pontiff. Those men need to know several languages and you can not even master English. Maybe you should put him back in school. Will that be the best for him?

Let’s think about that idea for a moment. If your child was in school you would be on his side and not out to point out his faults. Why have you abandoned him? He still needs your support. He still needs you to see his potential. If a teacher was telling you how slow your son is, you would be pointing out how smart he is. You would remind her that he comes home every day sharing what he has learned. You would be pointing out that he is the only one in the family that knows anything about hooking up the DVD player or getting the computers running. He might not be reading but he is brilliant.

Now you are the teacher and the mom. You have to see both sides. You need to see him like Christ does. The Father created your son; of course He knows his faults. Remember our Lord sees the complete package. He sees the child as a temple for the Holy Spirit. He sees the potential and the love. It is so hard, but that is what we are called to see. The math and the reading are very important but Heaven is the real goal. Don’t ever forget that.