You parents of the wilful and the wayward! Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were His before they were yours - long before He entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as He loves them.
Interpretation
Parents should never lose hope in their wayward children, as they are loved and valued beyond their understanding.
This quote emphasizes the importance of parental perseverance and unconditional love for children who may stray from the right path. It assures parents that even in troubled times, their children can be redeemed and are still cherished by a higher power, encouraging them to maintain faith and support.
In practice
In a speech to parents at a support group meeting for troubled youth.
We cannot judge fully of men's works by what we see, or what is said and thought of them; for man is prone to depreciate that which is really important, and to exact and extol what is trivial and of little worth. Many things which are hidden and unrecognized of human wisdom are nevertheless valuable and vitally important.
It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.
It is my belief that many who think they dislike poetry are really poetical in their natures and are indebted to it, more than they imagine, for the success they may have achieved, even in practical pursuits, and for the enjoyment their lives have afforded them.
Every mother can easily imagine losing a child. Motherhood is always half loss anyway. The three-year-old is lost at five, the five-year-old at nine. We consort with ghosts, even as we sit and eat with, scold and kiss, their current corporeal forms. We speak to people who have vanished and, when they answer us, they do the same. Naturally, the information in these speeches is garbled in the translation.
Moms and dads don't last forever. If you've got unfinished business, we need to face that, and that's not easy. Every child wants to love their mother and their father. Love is the most important thing, and when they feel rejected and unloved, that hole can never be filled by anyone else.
I was lucky to have such a loving, crazy family. I learned to give and share.
The old notion that children are the private property of parents dies very slowly. In reality, no parent raises a child alone. How many of us nice middle-class folk could make it without our mortgage reduction
For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first.
Tell your kids you love them as much as you possibly can, because you're not promised one second to the next.
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