PTTC part 8... Model Contentment

"To be a wise parent you must become like water.

It is content to nourish all it touches

without discrimination.

While people struggle to move up,

water flows joyfully down,

filling the low places."

Wow, how completely appropriate considering the past couple of days! It seems as if water, parenting, and blessings are a theme right now. :)

The second line, "it is content to nourish all it touches" brings to mind the various ways we become parents. We can give birth, bringing forth children from our own bodies and our own genetic material. These babies are born from a conscious desire to parent or from chance. Sometimes when you get pregnant, you get pregnant, only Life knows when it'll happen.

Some people become parents through circumstance. I have 2 great step-children that I never gave birth to, and who aren't part of my genetic makeup. They don't even live with us most of the year, but they are still family and I still love them.

Some people become parents through choice and deliberation. In my desire to learn more about fostering and adopting, I have made some friends who have adopted children, and these children are true products of a loving choice to bring a child into their family.

Some parents never have "children" but have nieces and nephews, students, other children who they care for temporarily or mentor, etc... Some give care to adults who are mentally "forever children." Some give care to elderly or animals! They are parents too, in a way.

The true meaning of motherhood and fatherhood is nurturing. Let's become better parents by striving to nurture all who come across us on our path!