Kids Need Faith

Ok I have really been rolling this over for nearly a year and as I have stated in a previous blog my mother and I have issues. And I guess I am flabbergasted that my mother and I's relationship is more or less severed over my family's choosing of beliefs. There are other issues that can be worked thru but where things seem to be stuck at is religious differences. I thought in our last communication email was we agreed to disagree....not discuss the issues that upset the both of us as she didn't want to hear of our Pagan belief and I didn't want her forcing her Christian views our way. I mean I know the Christian world after all I went to church all my life, baptised my kids in the Lutheran church. Well then the very next email I rec' from her was about a Wiccan gone Christian. Hmmm that didn't last long so I haven't responded, I didn't expect anything less, but I had faith that she would stick to that and SHE ruined it.

So heres the deal with todays blog... I don't feel religion and faith are the same. Growing up I can't say I really understood the saying "they are taking "God" out of the schools". And for the longest time I went with the crowd even though it didn't set quiet right that it was taking "God" out of the schools was what was wrong with todays youth. Over time I see there is a difference in Faith and Religion. You can have one without the other. So is it really that God has been taken from the schools or is it more that we haven't given our kids faith and something to believe in????

Let me explain my thoughts where I get the Religion and Faith are 2 different worlds....We have all met the Sunday School Christians. You know, those Christians who have the religion ~ they go to church EVERY Sunday and possibly even Wednesday's or as little as Christmas and Easter~ but don't have the faith that backs that up. They walk out of the Church building and it is life as usual and "God" isn't a part of it. They may believe in God but they don't have the faith in Him. They aren't the only ones...Pagans fall into this category as well. They celebrate the open Sabbats and worship, but they don't have the deep faith that others have.

We can have religion without faith. But we cannot survive without faith. If you don't agree, look around at the hopelessness, ANGER and confusion that is running rampid today. Our youth have nothing to believe in and so they have no drive. They are easily led astray by anyone or anything that promises a better future (sorry for me the first thing that comes to mind is Obama) I am not going political though in this post. Without direction the youth cannot lead themselves, much less the country that they are going to inherit, in a productive direction. A direction of growth and new life.

I do not believe it is the lack of God in schools that is the problem, contrary to some...ok many... people's belief, it is lack of faith in our youth. The push away from organized religion has stripped generations of their faith. And so it is time to bring back faith to our youth.

Kelda this past 6 months or so taught me and has led to this blog. I really worried about what she was starting to show interest in and how she was acting and wondered where was everything she had been taught. I just watched and as a mother that was VERY hard!! I kept close tabs on everything and now she has come to her own conclusions on those things and come back to the daughter I know. I will say my faith was drastically tested and not something I want to go thru again anytime soon. I will say her father was a lot of how I stayed on my ground and let her do her thing....there were several times I nearly flew off the handle and said something or acted out at her.

It is up to us as parents to instill faith in our children, but we must have faith in them during the rough patches as well so that they can have faith in us when they come out of them. Faith is the belief in something greater then ourselves. So to teach faith to our children, we should teach them about Divinity and a respect and honoring for that Divinity. To have faith, children must find a belief in the Gods whatever your belief is. To instill this belief there are many things that you can do. From something as complex as prayers and daily devotions to something as simple as taking time with your children to appreciate the beauty of nature. As an example we take the kids usually once a week on a family nature hike...yes even with the snow on the ground...this is hard for me because I am not a fan of winter, but I am a fan of being with my children and instilling a sense of respect for the wonders that surround us. They can't trully honor mother earth if they can't connect to her. We have to lead by example. It is my hope that they will learn to have faith from the activities that we do together that they aren't just words, but that we DO.