{"id":6969,"date":"2011-12-07T07:33:05","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T15:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/?p=6969"},"modified":"2011-12-11T13:45:25","modified_gmt":"2011-12-11T21:45:25","slug":"the-challenges-of-spiritual-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/the-challenges-of-spiritual-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenges of Spiritual Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Children by Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky –
\n\u201cI was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord\u201d (Psalm 122:1)<\/em><\/p>\n

We hear so often, \u201cShe\u2019s just like her mother,\u201d or \u201cHe\u2019s the spitting image of his father.\u201d Even the old Russian proverb repeats the cliche: The apple doesn\u2019t fall far from the tree. It can mean so much or be inconsequential. Eye color, the stride, the way they deal with traumas, or the faint trace of a smile stamp the child as carrier of the parent\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n

The characteristic with eternal significance is\u2014does the child take pleasure in praying in the temple of the Lord? Watch a child and notice how it\u2019s instantly apparent. Either he enjoys being in God\u2019s house, or he cannot wait until he can defy the parent and stay away. For a time, the believing mother or father will bring the child to church even if it\u2019s against his will. \u201cWe are family, you are part of our family, and families pray together.\u201d Good advice, even when imposed against the kid\u2019s will. What to do when the child resists, rebels, and refuses to go to church? <\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> Some families live by law. In these days of independence and freethinking, weak-willed parents often give in to the whines of the kids. Fathers will say it is a problem for the mother to solve and the mother feels imposed upon, unwilling to be the \u201cheavy,\u201d hearing the same plea: \u201cI don\u2019t wanna.\u201d And, \u201cI don\u2019t hafta.\u201d If the child can get away with this rebellion, score one for the child, and expect him to make many more points in his lifetime. It won\u2019t be the last time that the parents lose.<\/p>\n

B.<\/strong> Some parents try to bribe their children. \u201cPlease, just go to church and ______ [fill in the blank yourself]. This ploy works especially well with children of parents from different communions. They will hear: \u201cI like your church, Daddy [or Mommy]. I don\u2019t want to go to Mommy\u2019s [or Daddy\u2019s] church anymore.\u201d The shrewd manipulator has learned how to play one parent against the other.<\/p>\n

C.<\/strong> Just surrender. It\u2019s so simple. Usually it comes in the formula: \u201cOh, we don\u2019t believe in forcing a child to go to church if he doesn\u2019t want to go. We feel when he grows up, he can make up his own mind.\u201d Wrong. He\u2019s already decided that Church means so little to both parents that it\u2019s not worth being part of it. If he should ever need it\u2014a wedding, perhaps, or a funeral\u2014he\u2019ll worry about it then. In the meanwhile, he\u2019ll opt out.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if each child\u2014or at least many of them\u2014are to be able to feel in their hearts \u201cI was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord,\u201d then all of us have challenges to meet if we are to make it happen.<\/p>\n

Yes, we pastors who represent and even epitomize the Church are most responsible. If we are not kind, warm, affectionate, grace-filled and interesting, kids will be bored and worse. Their experience will not be positive.<\/p>\n

Adults must never ignore, demean or belittle the children. They too are priests, members of the royal priesthood of the Lord. They were commissioned at their baptisms to \u201cGo forth, preach, teach, and baptize\u2026.\u201d Each of us preaches a homily by our actions. Every one of us teaches the perceptive child something about the effects of the Holy Spirit upon the people of God. We are all giving some example of Christ to others. Either the children will want to become like us, or else they will wonder whatever happened to the grace, love, peace and joy that is supposed to be poured forth from Christ\u2019s disciples. The icons are not all on our walls. They are reflected from the faces of the community of believers gathered in prayer.<\/p>\n

About happiness, kids grasp instantly the emotions of adults. Are we having fun praising the Lord, or do we do it as a duty? Are we glad to be in our Father\u2019s house, or is it a boring, even a painful experience? Are we here because we have followed our hearts to Church, or do we act as if it\u2019s a celestial insurance policy we\u2019re paying in order to have a place in heaven after this lifetime is over?<\/p>\n

HT: Pravmir.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky – \u201cI was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord\u201d (Psalm 122:1) We hear so often, \u201cShe\u2019s just like her mother,\u201d or \u201cHe\u2019s the spitting image of his father.\u201d Even the old Russian proverb repeats the cliche: The apple doesn\u2019t fall far from … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":497,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68,43,5,130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-family","category-orthodox-christianity","category-orthodox-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}