How to Support Your Child's Faith: Lessons from 'The Road to Joseph'
First: We need to listen with an open heart
In ‘The Road to Joseph’ Chris has a prophetic dream and as he tells his parents about it, he is gushing with excitement! How would you react if your child told you the same? It’s quite an unusual thing for most of us to experience and though it might seem a bit ‘different’, as parents, we need to support our children and not ‘poo-poo’ it by saying something like:
“It must have been because of that huge cheese pizza that you ate last night. I knew it was a bad idea!”
We need to be open to the idea that this could indeed have come from God. A prophetic dream can happen to anyone. God does all sorts of things to get our attention and to remind us that we shouldn’t go through life ‘sleepwalking’ but should be focusing our lives on Him – to be fully awake.
Similarly, what if your child said they wanted to learn to pray a whole decade of the rosary….and you find the rosary really difficult… you can still say,
“What makes you want to do that, Nick? O I see….”
“Of course, I know…I’ll get your friend, John, and his mum to come over and we can do it together. I think they pray the rosary every night before bed….how does that sound?”
Second: Help them ‘test the spirits’ or discern
As it says in the Word of God,
“My dear friends, not every spirit is to be trusted, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” 1 John 4:1
The mark of the Holy Spirit are His fruits: love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).
But every baptised person already has the Holy Spirit living inside them… so, I think that when we are discerning, if it is God who is speaking (rather than from our own imagination or the devil) we need to observe if there is an increase in the fruits of the Holy Spirit in your child’s life. This lovely nun puts it so well…
Third: Walk with them
So, in my story you will notice that dad asks Chris about his prophetic dream,
“Wow! How did the dream make you feel?” Dad asks.
“Like I was floating on the sea - all peaceful.”
Dad is helping Chris (and himself and his wife) to test the spirits. Chris’ answer of a definite increase in peace is a sign that this could be from the Holy Spirit. But we also have to wait and see how things develop over time. Will this peace remain in Chris’ heart? Only time will tell…and the fact that he did get to play Joseph in the nativity gives us the answer!
Walking beside your child, staying calm, and praying with your child about this are all good things to do. Perhaps God will confirm what he is saying to you
while you pray…perhaps you will have a sense that it is from God - in your own heart. And if it's something that seems too big for you to handle, then simply seek the advice of your priest. All will be well…and I say this because our God is a good God and He wants us to understand what He is saying to us.
