Seeds of Faith

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“Believing is all a child does for a living.” – Kurtis Lamkin

The other day my 6-year-old daughter called for me. When I came into the room, she was holding her little brother because he’d tripped and fallen. When I took him from her and started checking for injuries, she huffed off.

When all was calm, I checked in with my daughter. She said that I loved her brother more than her. I told her how much I appreciated how independent and helpful she was. Then I listed all the ways we show our love and the privileges she gets because she is older. She nodded and said, “ At his age, you can see the love he gets better.”

Something more than the obvious sibling rivalry and jealousy struck me about that statement. After I sat with it some time, I’ve found such a precious seed of faith in that statement. Like if we could all trace back the roots of what we believe to the essential moments where we start to believe in what we can’t see we’d find seeds from moments like my daughter expressed. Faith in others, faith in love, faith in the Divine,

It’s as if I’ve been privy to watch her operate from within her God spot for all the years until now. She’s been operating from the natural trust that came with being so fresh from the Source. And now I’m witnessing her growth and awareness start to cover that over so that instead of operating without thought from her Seat of Unconscious, as I believe Jung would call it, my daughter is feeling out the ground on the other side.

While this leaves me with a sense of loss, I recognize it as a natural moving forward. Most of us cannot stay in a life free of ambition and embarrassment, fear and worry. We move away from that spot of grace that can bring so much peace and then have to work our way back, again and again.

But it strikes me that as she moves in and out of that unencumbered spot, the awareness is a gift of its own. It makes me conscious of my own God spot as well as hers and allows me to recognize when I need to help water and nurture her seed of faith — and my own.

The analogy of a tree that grows deep roots resonates with me. For my kids to stretch tall in their beliefs, their roots need to grow deep down. And I need to have faith that they will have faith.

(featured photo from Pexels)

14 thoughts on “Seeds of Faith”

  1. “Like if we could all trace back the roots of what we believe to the essential moments where we start to believe in what we can’t see we’d find seeds from moments like my daughter expressed. Faith in others, faith in love, faith in the Divine.” . . . an ‘If Only’ statement of faith prompted by your daughter that seeing is not a prerequisite to believing my faith needs to hold onto Wynne. Thank you.

    “Believing is all a child does for a living.” – Kurtis Lamkin . . . “Unless you change and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

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  2. Beautiful post. You having me thinking about how this insight plays out in sibling dynamics as often the older children are not able to understand the changes a baby brings to the dynamic.

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    1. What a great point. I remember hearing from other parents that the work they did to help their older kids know how much the little ones look up to them really paid off. And I’ve found that to be so true with mine – they adore each other. But that doesn’t mean my daughter doesn’t feel the stretch and change of her relationship with me so it’s made me try to be intentional with my support of her feelings. Kids might not be able to understand the changes – but they sure can feel them!

      Thanks for a lovely comment! It’s nice to see you again on WordPress – missed you, Sarah!

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      2. That sounds a lot like my relationship with my older sister. I don’t think my parents did any work to try to support feelings and facilitate the bonding. I’m sure that’s why I work at it so much with my kids!

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  3. Your daughter is growing up. 😊💕And definitely with that comes both celebration of the growth and a loss of the innocence. I totally can feel ya on this one. Sending hugs your way.

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  4. Have faith that they will have faith. I love that. Sometimes keeping faith for someone is absolutely the best gift that we can give others—keep the faith for them, especially when they are unable to keep it for themselves.

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  5. As you water and nurture her seed of faith, you can have faith that she will have faith. I feel that job is never completely finished (this side of heaven) even with our adult children and our grandchildren. Our influence and prayers are so important in their lives. Thanks for the reminder.

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  6. What a beautiful comment, Nancy! I love how you put it that the job is never completely finished. May we all keep exerting that loving influence in each other’s lives!

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  7. “Faith in others, faith in love, faith in the Divine”, I love this line. It must be quite emotional, happy and otherwise at some moments, to see one’s child grow up and one cannot help wonder when did the change begin. But I see she is growing up to be a very sensible child 🙂

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