I can teach you things, but I cannot make you learn.

I can give you directions, but I cannot be there to lead you.

I can allow you freedom, but I cannot account for it.

I can take you to church, but I cannot make you believe.

I can teach you right from wrong, but I cannot always decide for you.

I can buy you beautiful clothes, but I cannot make you beautiful inside.

I can offer you advice, but I cannot accept it for you.

I can give you love, but I cannot force it upon you.

I can teach you to share, but I cannot make you unselfish.

I can teach you respect, but I cannot force you to show honour.

I can advise you about friends, but I cannot choose them for you.

I can warn you about drugs, but I cannot prevent you from using them.

I can tell you about lofty goals, but I cannot achieve them for you.

I can teach you about kindness, but I cannot force you to be gracious.

I can warn you about sins, but I cannot make your morals.

I can love you as a child, but I cannot place you in God's family.

I can pray for you, but I cannot make you walk with God.

All the above I can, I will, and I must do. And even more.

I will surely point Jesus Christ out to you, but only you,

if you really want to, can reach out to touch Him.

And if you do, and I hope and pray you do

then my life's work will have been done!

And, in my heart, I will always thank you, and bless you!

For then I will rest assured that even as my hand lets go of yours,

as one day it must, His hand will have reached out,

with love and understanding to take firm hold of your outstretched hand.

And He will gently lead you on, as your life unfolds to touch the future.

Just as a long time ago, His hand reached out

and grasped the hand of a shy little girl

who was trusting and faithful, though hesitant and fearful.

And helped her become ... your proud mother!

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,
Speak to us of Children.


And he said:
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.
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.

-excerpt from the Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran



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