Wise Words from Optina

I wanted to share with you some of the following quotes I read this week. With school having started recently (at home or outside the home), I thought these were appropriate.

"It will be enough if you take care to instruct your children in the fear of God, instill them with an Orthodox understanding, and by teaching them to be faithful, you protect them with reasoning that is foreign to the teachings of the Orthodox Church. The good that you sow in the hearts of your children while they are young will blossom forth in their hearts when they come to full maturity, and after enduring the bitter trials of school and contemporary life, which often break off the branches of a good Christian upbringing in the home. "

~St. Ambrose

"You think it would be better for your son to be with you all the time, but who knows? With you, if God permits, he could become spoiled, while in the hands of others, preserved from harm. In the end, regardless of where your children might be, with you or in the case of someone else, instill in them Christian principles and entrust them to God and the intercession of the Mother of God."

~St. Macarius

The above quotes were taken from the book Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina published in 2005 by Holy Trinity monastery in Jordanville, NY.

**Editor's note: I just wanted to note in regards to that last quote that I am not by any means condemning homeschooling. If that is what you do and have a blessing for I think it's terrific and for a long time that is what I planned on doing myself. However in time things changed and I'm not in a position (right now) to do so, but I'm jealous of those of you that do! That quote just helped me because I am struggling with sending him to school and in my case it applies very accurately. :)