Welcome to the Wild Graces Family Life Blog! We will be meandering together through the Heaven on Earth Workbook: Create the Star of Your Family Culture. You can visit the Books page to order this engaging book!
# 1. Why We Are Here Together:
I believe you have arrived here for the same reasons I am here: Our children are, in the words of Kahlil Gibran, the gift of Life’s longing for Itself. They run toward Life, arms open, and Life loves Itself through their small bodies. Pressing themselves into the sand, sifting dirt, watching an inchworm measure a branch, reaching toward the black cat, who evades, then looks at them through inscrutable green eyes... it is their biological imperative to reach toward Life, and we, their caregivers, must structure the way in which Life reaches back, the way they are touched in return.
They need to be touched by grass, flowers, sunshine, birdsong. They need
a pile of dirt, and earthworms, clay for mud pies and dirt balls for target practice. They need sticks and bare feet, stubbed toes, too. They need songs, stories, paints, costumes. And games that go on without end.
These children are Life reaching out to discover Itself. What they touch must be vibrantly alive, that in growing they may learn to respect, to nurture, to cherish and protect. This is our task; it is urgent they thrive.
They are Hope itself, here, now, forever.
I am so glad you are curious and eager to explore creating your own family culture! I would like to share with you some beginning thoughts about how to define Family Culture; perhaps this will be a springboard for you to further consider, as you shape your own ideal definition!
“In all the activities we do with our children we are making decisions that establish our family’s culture. Culture is nothing more or less than the way we live our lives. Although this “culture making” is going on all the time, the quality of the culture pivots entirely on the awareness we bring to it. We are fashioning our family’s culture with each decision, so let us bring as much consciousness to this process as we can.
To raise children who, as young adults, can freely create their life as they envision it—this is our task. We do this by fashioning a space in which, with a delicate balance of guidance and freedom, our children can discover who they really are. With each decision we make, we are showing our children what we value. As adults, we have the capacity to look at each other’s choices and know whether we agree with these values or not. Our children have not yet gained this power of discrimination. Because our very young children experience themselves as being at one with their environment, they deeply internalize the value system we offer them. In consciously choosing to value life in all its forms; in choosing to foster health, wellbeing, self-respect, and respect for others, we show our children that we value them. Perhaps more than anything, our young children are alive, like the first day of creation. In showing our children that we value Life, we affirm through every action that we love them, in all their liveliness.
Here, in Wild Graces, we will explore the Star of Family Culture that you see below. Please come back, month by month, as we go forward!
