*November 23rd* (with video)

This was the family of the well known concentration camp survivor, Ms. Corrie ten Boom. In her book "The Hiding Place", she relates the story of a conversation she once had with her father while traveling:

"'Father, what is sex sin?'

My father turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor.

'Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?' he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.

'It's too heavy,' I said.

'Yes,' he said. 'And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.'

And I was satisfied. More than satisfied -- wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions -- but now I was content to leave them in my father's keeping."

Here we see Corrie ten Boom posing in the very room where she and her family found "a hiding place" until they were finally captured and placed in a concentration camp during World War II.

For more information on her life, click on:
"The Secret Room", The Story of Corrie ten Boom

Perhaps we all agree we have much to be thankful for. By this same principle, the energy and insight we exercise to parent our children, no matter how difficult the task may be at times, is well worth our effort in the end.

Note also how Ms. Boom's trust in her father as a youth to answer for her the question, "What is sexual sin?", is a good example for parenting today. Contrary to what is taught in our society, our children do not have to know "everything" that is in the world before they are of an age to properly understand them. The "umbrella of parental authority" can be a place of safety until the child is mature, and governed by his or her own conscience and established morality.

[Jim Hogue, MA, MFT]
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