When my son was all of six years old, he refused to wear the holy ash on his forehead. For tamilians like me who are hindus, this was closest to blasphemy and I was trying to lay down the rule that he has to do it every day after at least praying for a few seconds. Seeing an approaching standoff, my husband tried to intervene by gently asking me to find out the reason why he was refusing. Aha…that made sense. So I called my son and asked him why he did not want to wear it. His answer astounded me. “ My friends at school will think I am a prayer!” I was dumb founded and realized that in his world it was absolutely “uncool” to be religious or show yourself as someone who prays. All of six years old and look at the mysterious ways that peer pressure intervenes in our lives.
Yes, I stopped forcing him to wear holy ash on his forehead. And yes, whether he realizes it now or not he and his twin sister are God’s benevolent answers to my prayers!
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