In My Father's House

So the poem and story I posted in yesterdays post started me thinking about a book I'm reading now, called In My Father's House by Corrie Ten Boom. For those of you who haven't ever heard of/read her first book The Hiding Place it is about when she and her father, and other family members hide Jews in their home during WWII. They are eventually caught, imprisoned, and then sent to concentration camps. Her father and sister, Betsie, die, as well as a couple other family members. The book In My Father's House is about her life growing up prior to the war and a very poignant look at how her life growing up prepared her for the challenges and sacrifices she would make in WWII. It made her a person who was willing to sacrfice for others. In My Father's House there are many wonderful stories about Corrie Ten Boom about being raised a good christian, but others stories like sneaking into a lecture as a teenager because she wanted to listen to/meet the speaker. When she became a religious teacher she saved her money to buy two toilets and a bathrub for their house. She tells of how neat her sister Betsie was, even when imprisoned she carefully lined up the contents of her red cross package. She tells when their family cared for german children in their house following the first worrld war. She tells of the love the family shared with each other, and others all around them, really whoever they could reach. What a wonderful example of a loving family!!



As a parent it is interesting to think about my children in the prospect of what I do with them now helps develop their personalities into the people they will be when grown up. Its actually very reassuring, for the most part--I make plenty of mistakes that leave me thinking I've scarred them for life, but sticking to the positive . . . I know that (for the most part) I'm trying to teach them, lead them, guide them into being good people. This gives me the hope that in the future when they are grown, they will remember who they are, and be good people, not because they are "made" to, but because they choose to.



Does that make sense? I don't know. Its all still jumbled inside my own head a bit.