"Children are not colouring books.
You can not colour them your favourite colours"
(From The Kite Runner)

This past weekend we have purposefully had a very quiet one. As part of it we watched the above movie which was very touching. If you get a chance to see it then do so. You'll love it. I might even go and find myself the book upon which it is based, to read (most unlike me :-)

Since having a teenager in the house life has been turned on it's head. We have experienced things we never dreamed of and at times they have broken our hearts. They have pushed us to our emotional and physical limits. There have been many sleepless nights and many tears shed as we cry out to God to help us.

The above phrase from the movie really struck me. As a frustrated artist I love colour and see it everywhere. There are some colours that I am attracted to and others I steer away from. During my night school art classes I learnt that a painting is made up of many layers of different colours. Some dark, others light.




I have to admit to wanting my kids to be certain "colours". There are ideals, morals and values that I would like them to hold and take with them into their adult lives yet upon reflecting on this phrase I realised that the colours I like may not be the ones that they like. It is hard to see the murky, dull colours forming layers in their lives. I know, though, that some of these colours will form the foundations of the bright, lively colours that will be evident as they grow older. It's hard to sit back and watch them experiment with new colours; mixing colours to create ones that fit them. I don't always like or appreciate the hues and shades they work with. Another thing I learnt in art class is that nothing is undoable. With careful brush strokes and a thick layer of paint those dark colours can be "erased". That's my job as a parent....to guide the young artist as they colour themselves through their choices and actions to produce a beautiful piece of art that changes just as the days change.

In the movie I loved seeing the many different coloured kites as they soared through the Afghan sky. I longed to see the kites of my boys lives soaring freely through the skies of life, reflecting the Light in the colours with which they are decorated. It will come, but for now I need to hold strongly onto the string and slowly release them into the next stages of their young lives. Some days I want to hold tightly onto the string and never let it go. Some days I realise I have let it out too quickly and need to pull back. It's hard to balance the right string length with the wind. But when you get it right the graceful sight is something to behold.