Earlier this week I watched a video clip that has gone viral. In it we see a mother singing a sad song to her baby who, while not understanding the words, certainly understands the emotion in the mother’s voice, and weeps. I sent the link to my sister-in-law who emailed back within two minutes. She had started playing it when her two year old told her to ‘stop the email. It is too sad.’ We live in a sea of emotion and, too often, our children pick up on the feelings that are swirling around them without understanding their meanings. It is part of our responsibility of care and love towards them to help them navigate these seas.
Emotions are an integral part of our humanity and are a gift from God to us. Through them, we are connected to each other and to the world around us. In a very real sense, they can be a sign, and even an experience, of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. But our emotions can also cripple us or be used to attack or negatively influence other people. The challenge is to discover how to use them well in our lives. This is one of the fundamental roles of prayer in our lives. In some forms of prayer, we sit with God and use how we feel as the connection between us. We tell God how sad or happy or confused we feel, then sit quietly and listen for God’s answer. This won’t come in words but rather as a clarification of how we feel and how we should react in the situation that is causing our emotions. As we learn to be more sensitive to and understand better our own emotions, we will learn the skills to help our children do the same.
Loving God, you have created me with a variety of emotions that often seem like baffling forces within me. Send me the wisdom of your Spirit that I might use my emotions to grow in love. I ask this in Jesus’ name, confident that you will hear me.
Sr Kym Harris osb
