Spiritual Parenting
by Catherine Ross
What is spiritual parenting?

Spiritual parenting has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the
development of spirit in our precious children. When we speak of spiritual parenting, we are looking to nurture that most precious part of our children, that which will remain with them - not only in this lifetime, but at the very least, where they will go when they leave this world of form and matter.

I will talk a little about my own spiritual experience in order to help you understand Spirit as I know it.

Just before Christmas of 1998, I collapsed in a heap at the side of my car after
experiencing severe heart palpitations. Although I had collapsed, I maintained
consciousness. Now I cannot tell you if I was conscious to an outside observer or not. I really don’t know. But I knew I was fully present and that I was residing in my body yet separate from it - the way one gets in their car and drives, yet does not become the car. The ubiquitous white light was indeed present, had come in a beam straight into my left eye, and lit up my head within. It was a bit like being in a sunshine-filled ballroom. God was there - absolutely, unequivocally.

Without an exchange of words, I knew that I walked a line at that moment; the choice to live or die was up to me. All I had to do was make the decision. I was given to know that all would be well if I chose to go, that my children would be fine. I knew my
transgressions were unimportant, that all was forgiven, and like a child who has
stumbled and skinned their knee, God was there with open, loving, compassionate arms to comfort, protect and guide me home. But I wasn’t ready to leave, so I said, “God, can you help me out, please?” with the intention that I wanted to live. At once, the light disappeared, my palpitations stopped, I got up, got in my car and drove home.

What I was most aware of after I regained consciousness (if in fact it was lost) was that I had been fully and wholly myself, even at the cusp of entering another dimension. The degree of profoundness that I experienced in days following cannot be undermined. I had met God. There is a place we go when we die. I did not go there, but it had been offered to me. We take everything we are with us when we die - our thoughts, feelings, desires, past actions, our baggage - and all of this is completely separate from our bodies.

In the following months, I had many extraordinary experiences. I awoke each morning
with an understanding of the world that was so much deeper than I had ever known
before, even sometimes more then I had known just the day before. I became aware of spirits, which I’d had some contact with before this event, but now became so much more than just a glimpse. They were my guides; they whispered, and sometimes shouted in my ear as I slept. They swept around me as I prayed at the beach. The wind became the kisses of angels on my cheek. The leaves on the trees glimmered with life. The trees stood still, as if with only one foot, they were planted as solidly as dedicated soldiers. The stones on the beach sucked energy from me and replaced it with peace. The very air sparkled, and the sound of the waves crashing on the tiny stones of the shore was like the magnified sound of rain sticks. The sun appeared so miraculous I cannot even write about it.

One night, I walked outside into the cold brisk air of January in New England and was
startled because God was settled like a clear haze over the whole of my backyard. The whole world was alive with the Grace of God. And in that particular moment, I
understood that God was indeed everywhere, in everything, just as it says in Genesis when it is written that God moved like a spirit across the waters*. I also knew that God was within me, and that I must do everything I could to allow that to shine through.

I am not special. I have perpetuated my share of what we might call sins and I continue to make mistakes. I have done nothing to deserve this glimpse of the other side. I only know for certain that it exists.

When babies are first brought outdoors, they cannot express to us their wonderment
and joy at the most minute, and to us ordinary, details of nature. At best, they can
bounce and point and babble excitedly. We smile at their newness. Through my
experience, I was reborn. I again saw the world the way a baby does. My wonderment of the simplest things awed me. And I have never taken a flower, or a waterfall, or a bird’s song for granted since. I have learned to listen to children because they come to us with a purity of vision, one that is unclouded by mundane life - of life that is bogged down with bills and schedules, all of which takes us so far from God. Through our children, we can see what wonders God has brought us and we can relearn to appreciate, and never ignore, that which makes life so extraordinary.

Once blessed with this knowledge, I have been compelled to devote my life to it. God
has given me the opportunity to see life through new eyes and I live to honor that.

This is the beauty I hope to share with you, dear reader. In the coming months, I will
write about how so many of the ways in which we live our lives or deal with our children are contrary to what I have been given to know are important. I hope the lessons I have learned, and will share with you, prove to be of some value to you as well.

About the author: In 1998, Catherine Ross experienced a Near Death Experience. In the months following her experience, knowledge she had never possessed filled her each morning. Her life was never the same. Since then, she has worked primarily with children in many aspects. She has taught lessons in school, in Sunday school, and to the friends of her own children who have voluntarily come to her for answers their own parents could not provide. Many times, their parents have often sought her advice as well. Catherine has no background in education or formal training in Seminary, but her views have been hailed by ministers as captivating and bearing much of the truths found in the Bible. Her greatest supporters are the children themselves, who teach Catherine on a daily basis the lessons she herself needs to learn.

If you are having problems with your children, or are facing issues in your life or family you don't know how to deal with,you can write to Catherine Ross at
CatherinesAngels@aol.com  

©Copyright Catherine Ross 2004

 

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