The Journey of Parenting
by Michael Doyle

Seeded with a lot of quietude
Is the truth of parenting's magnitude
Every day begun in earnest prayer
To take on all moments, hard or fair

The challenges sometimes come on hard
As we hold closely to each player's cards
It's a process beyond that of right or wrong
It leaves our children knowing where they belong

Where it's not, they might turn from belief
With the hypocrisy bringing them to grief
Consistency is needed, set in our examples
The holiness of life should be more than ample

Having lost the Bible's grains of integrity
They have lost their way in keeping legacy
Children are our heritage, filled with blessing
The love given by parents leaves no one guessing

All the stages of life tend to send us apart
But you cannot separate the love in our hearts
We must move beyond protection to that of teaching
Always encouraging our children in their reaching

We are to be and remain that constant bright light
That shines in the darkness, consistently teaching right
The scripted lessons provide the much-needed frame
That shapes our kids' lives without bringing shame

From the stage of teaching, we change the approach
As we learn to teach them to think as if a coach
It's a setup in running the plays needed to win
It's the path and road on which life truly begins

In each step of the process, there's a truth to confess
That if we don't allow the kids to grow, we miss
That when the children grow, if taught the way to grow
The principles ingrained are what they'll truly know

Through free will, some values may be cast aside
But given time, the principles will rise as they reside
Adhered to scripture will be all the lessons learned
From which the best of life can and will be discerned

Providing the right set of thoughts from each modeled example
So that the integrity ingrained might be lived full and ample
Accountable as we share all we can live as we teach
So that we walk the walk and not be thought just to preach

The truth is that we must know our values to live our value
In all we teach and the everything of what it is we do
To live full-hearted as we parent in all our living days
Teaching our children all we can through living Godly ways

(c) June 15, 2023  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved