art-thelittleboy

The Little Boy who Stole my Heart

I thought I was so strong, strong no matter how my emotions feel at this moment, but I can't really prevent my tears from falling... I just can't stop them, I kept on wiping the tears welled in my eyes... What am I supposed to do now, some visitors or even my staff might come inside my office and will find me crying...

This morning I was surprised to hear a toddler, about a year and a half baby boy, crying all of a sudden, shouting, begging for his mom not to leave him. Screaming so loudly as though he was being left by his mom for years, our Security Guard assisted the boy to his mother who was just at the cashier's window to pay for her plan while he was just left at a chair to wait for his mother. He cried and cried, like a very poor baby and so his mother went back to the chair to get him. While I was in front of the computer, I suddenly just got up of my seat and proceeded to the Planholders area to find the boy who was crying so hard. I saw the little boy with so much tears in his eyes and just suddenly stopped crying as soon as the mother fetched him, carried from her arms and hugged him tight.

It broke my heart. I went to the boy with his mother and caressed his cheeks and wiped his tears. I said, "It's all right baby, Mommy's there for you..." The mother was thrilled to see how excited and sincere my face was, when I was comforting her baby. I rushed to my room and said to myself as I have been wishing to say the same words to my own son, "Mommy's here for you..." Tears just went down from my eyes during the early morning at work. I remember the face of my 2 year old son begging me not to leave him earlier this morning while me and his nanny cunningly found a way to trick him for a candy just so he won't see me leave the house.

It's amazing to think how we could manage to live like this everyday and learned to accept life. It's funny how I could be accustomed to leaving my son everyday for work and feels sad everytime he cries when I leave. AJ's face popped up into my mind when I heard the little boy cried. I thought it was so cheesy to cry over this but I learned it's actually not. Even Jesus Himself wept at one time in the Bible for the loss of His good friend Lazarus, whom He loved so dearly says in John 11:35. I thought of Jesus for awhile and said "My Lord, help me to be strong enough for this..." Right in a snap, my tears stopped from falling. Amazing how God can turn my emotions into happiness! I am still very happy that God gave me a son after a daughter. I believe he is a miracle baby and that God sent him for us for a lot of purposes.

It's so fulfilling to ever love this way. I believe in the saying, "it's better to love and lost than to have never loved at all". From this kind of love, you will then realize the love of our Father for mankind, when He gave His only Son as a ransom for our penalty which is death, and so Jesus died in behalf of us. This was clearly shown in John 3:16. I just love this verse! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will never perish but will have everlasting life!"

There was one time my toddler was having tantrums over something and refused to eat and just went wild. As a mother, of course I have to discipline him by way of spanking (as it is a common practice in Filipinos), not too much though, and reprimanding. It hurts for me to do this but I have no choice but to do it, because if you truly love your children, you will never want them to go astray and be a spoiled brat. For me, It is not love to raise a child who lacks self-discipline and is not responsible for his/ her own actions. It clearly states in the Bible to train up a Child in the way he should go: says in Proverbs 22:6.

A very close person to me, "for some reason" suggested to torture my son in such a way that he'll never ever do it again, like emotional torture or perhaps ground him by not speaking to him for the whole day. Or even jail him inside the toilet for hours or so. I think this is ridiculous! She even asked me, "Why can't you do it?". I was so devastated by this remark and suggestion. Do I look like I'm a useless mother and that my children weren't being disciplined well? I have a 10 year old daughter, and I can say that she grew up very well with proper respect and discipline, as advised by her Teachers in school, obviously from her grades too. What made her think that I can't do the same to my younger son?

This was just really out of line. A popular author of a very good book, "What the Bible Says About . . . ™Child Training - 2nd Edition by J. Richard Fugate, Foundation for Biblical Research, 2000", advised through his wonderful book to apply Biblical principles in child raising and discipline. To express Christian love as decreed in the book of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Philippians 2:1-4 which states love as being patient, kind, not easily provoked, merciful, and humble. Torturing means, "excruciating punishment" and that is excessive use of physical and mental pain specially for children below 7 years of age. However, spanking is actually ok as long as it's motivated by love and not by anger and hate.

It also explains in this book that parents are to provide correct attributes of love and comfort for their children by a balanced and responsible exercise of their authority and not to abuse it in any way. Here's an excerpt: "When righteousness and justice are practiced according to God's principles in the training of children, there will be a balance for our responsive love; and then incorrect and unsuccessful extremes will be avoided. Parents can be firm in setting and enforcing righteous standards without being tyrannical or abusive. They can sacrificially give of themselves on behalf of their children, but still not give in to the demands of an immature child."

It also stated that parents are to require and enforce righteous standards: "The practice of Christian love in parenting is exercised when parents combine the righteousness of setting legitimate standards for their children with the justice of fairly punishing for disobedience." The Author, Mr. J. Richard Fugate motivates parents to better understand their role and to learn the right mechanics through one very important book, the Holy Bible, which is God's word, to successfully raise their children. Of course the most important thing here is to first love our children even before training them and practice the right principles onto them. The practice of too much chastisement is definitely not an alternative.

Basically, I am just categorizing that parents play a very important role, as they are responsible to introduce God and practice the aspects of the one source of information for man, the Bible, nothing else. As it is, the Bible is the "Human Manual". You will never go wrong with this. I believe that if you raise your children outside of the methods of the Bible, then that child will be doomed for unrighteousness and curse, nothing else!

I love my children very much. They play an important role in me and my husband's lives. After Jesus, our children are our source of strength. Admittedly, I become very sensitive when it comes to my children, and I think I'll be waiting for God's grace on this, for me to be able to learn balancing the love I have for them. Just like how He loves us. It is so well balanced, sometimes it hurts, but He has to do it for our own sake and our growth. I am just waiting on God's plans for me and my family in His own perfect time. I know there will be perfect plans and these visions have been so clear in my mind. Visions I know that God has placed in my heart. By this time these visions would come to pass, then I will never have to leave my son every morning again and be able to focus more on my daughter's studies and other needs. I know God is willing, for His plans are perfect in His own perfect time.

By: Maya Guzman Santos