PARENTING AND GRAND PARENTING FOR SPIRITUAL LIVES

Lisa Miller, Character, Spirituality, Parenting, Grandparenting

If you’ve been following my previous Saturday posts week by week, you’ll know that I’ve written three of them referencing The Spiritual Child (which I'll abbreviate as SC) by Lisa Miller (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.) 

You, hopefully, have been inspired by Miller’s report of scientific evidence that spirituality is wired into the human biology and can be cultivated for stronger lives.

Today, I want to recap  Miller’s ideas on how to do spiritual parenting or grand parenting through using spiritual language in every day situations. 

She writes about her own father, who took great interest in discussing questions about the point of life. (SC p. 327.) She urges us to do the same with younger people, whenever spiritually meaningful moments arise.

Miller provides practical sample dialogues to can guide us. For example, in the light of a beautiful sunset over the lake or ocean she’d encourage words like this:

• It’s so beautiful tonight. I just feel fortunate to be alive here on earth to see these sights! (Cf. “The sunrise”, SC, p 334.)

Upon getting news of a family calamity, like a health problem or loss of a wage earner’s job:

• Yes, we have a family challenge. We can face it together. I’m grateful for the love and respect you show for all the members of the family. We’ll hang together and find a way through. (Compare “losing my job,” (SC, p 334.)

The key to this use of language is to let children know that you consider life to be a sacred journey—one of spiritual discovery. (Cf. SC: “Tell your child,” pp. 325-26.) The language should become part of our own natural communication process so that we use it spontaneously. 

Dr. Lisa Miller uses credible social and biological sciences to establish the importance of spirituality in developing strong lives. If you follow a specific religion or drawing on more than one, she provides language patterns that you can translate into your own religious tradition perspective.

What if you have chosen to follow science instead of religion? Miller challenges you to pause and question that approach to life and to ask, is it adequate for dealing with life’s challenges and opportunities.

No matter which path to meaning in your life you follow, I recommend highly Lisa Miller’s book, SC, for your personal and family growth. This book has guidance and challenge for all.  Buy it at your bookstore or borrow it through your public library. It's of universal significance.