On Not Knowing Everything

Feb. 27, Feat of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, confessor, patron of clerics, students, and young people.

All I know is that I know nothing.

Said somebody important.

Really, it's true, and the more I am reminded of this, the better I feel about incorporating that philosophy into my child-rearing.  Except I do know something.  The Something I know is what God knows, what He reveals in his Sacred Word and in Holy Mother Church.  As for the rest of it, here's a little note to remind myself that, when in doubt, it's okay to simply say to my son, "Hm, I don't know."

And not to be ashamed that I don't know everything, either, even in parenting.  Especially in parenting.  It's a work in progress.

I don't know all the answers, and as a mother, I don't have to.  I catch myself in an attitude sometimes that if I am not able to provide my son with a logical, well-thought out explanation of the inner workings of the universe on various topics, from physics to we-have-four-Christmas-stockings-and-three-people-in-our-family-what-do-we-do-now?!?, it's going to be okay.  It's going to be better than okay, actually, because I'll be teaching my son a deference to and reliance on God.  He won't be able to place me in that idolatrous role that codependency demands, for a person to find someone who has all the answers.  That person doesn't exist, even among the saints and popes.  And when we are able to hold that knowledge close, then we won't be brokenhearted when we learn otherwise.