Entries about grace

Remember the previous entry wherein I described the new toddler and his free will? Well, with some trial and error, we have arrived at a compromise. And it was through the power of a song.

One night, after holding my son and rocking him close to sleep, I laid him down in his crib and he again popped right up to standing. He doesn't want to holding and rocking to end. So I decided to coax him down and began singing "Amazing Grace", which is a song that has long been a favorite of mine, even though I am not religiously affiliated. I just love the words to this song, I love the rhythm, I love the story. It is so emotionally moving, so heart-centered, so powerful. I sang him all three verses that I know, and he was lying still. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Epiphany! The song has that calming sense... Now each time I am putting him to bed when he is struggling to fall asleep, I sing him "Amazing Grace", and each time, he falls straight asleep. Again we are in a blissful routine of sleep, and it makes such a difference for my mental state, and his as well.

My favorite part of the song "Amazing Grace" is the final verse, "When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun..." I love visualizing us as balls of light, shining as the sun. What will Bodhi get from that song? Is it the melody that he will remember? Another line he will love?

I found this statement on a website that I was reading about children's development from 0-2 called "Parent Further":
"Even very young children discover a spiritual perspective of the world. If parents and caregivers are warm and caring, they’ll find a wonderful world."

I believe that when babies are born, they have a much clearer sense of their spiritual nature, and also of subtle things like intuition, intention, and spiritual presence. I watch my son daily be able to discern if he wants to interact with a person or not, based on the energy they are projecting. I want to cultivate that wonder, that deep sense of knowing, that intuition. But it is difficult to communicate with a toddler about things that are unseen, and things that are intangible, since they explore the world with their senses. I wonder about what to teach my son about the universe, about God, about living and dying and truth. Perhaps it is my background in philosophy that makes me question and contemplate these issues, and also has developed within me a sense of spiritual individuality. I don't relate entirely to any religious system, yet I have believed strongly in spirituality for my entire life. How do you encourage your children to take the good things and discard the bad? How do you help them respect and understand the amazing natural world around them, the incredible gifts that they have been given, and the connection to other living things?