direction

I am meditating on this writing from Khalil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

It really speaks to a struggle that I am newly enduring. The path I have carefully laid for my children stone by stone feels like its crumbling under foot. With our move to Alaska also came a new community with a new home in a new neighborhood. With in this neighborhood there are children that have paths different than my children. The direction I have set forward does not look, sound, or feel like most of the other children's paths. For the first time the boys are trying new paths to forage new friendships and bonds. However, it looks and feels defiant to out belief system and makes many undesirable conflicts for them and for me. Was my path laid hastily and on shaky footing? Why did the influence of others take such a strong hold of my child's compass? These are many of my quandaries as I navigate through to secure footing and stability for myself and the boys.. Writings like this from Khalil Gibran give me strength and inspiration. I want to be the bow that allows the arrow to fly.  I cannot protect them from humanness but I can hold their hand in darkness. I see these flaws in them as not flaws but the buds of self discovery and good old fashion lesson learning for both of us.