When things go wrong in the lives of our children, we often ask the question: “What have we done wrong?” When they will not cooperate, or choose friends who have a bad influence, or do not want to go to Mass, then we tend to look for someone to blame – and the first on the list is ourselves.

Blaming ourselves and nurturing a huge portion of guilt, will not change anything. It is also unfair!

Bringing up children simply does not work without making mistakes. There is no hand-book on education available today that will prevent you from making mistakes. Mistakes are “pre-programmed”. They are part-and-parcel of our human condition.

We need to tell ourselves every now and again: mistakes are allowed! They are going to happen.

What can we do about it? The most important answer is the willingness to get closer to Our Lord and train ourselves to know what he wants and to say our “yes” to his plan for us. God has a plan for all of us. We can call it the “Personal Ideal”. Mary helps us discover this plan for ourselves so that we can strive to live it every day.

The way to master life is to be able to say “yes” and give ourselves to Christ. God knows us and loves us, and he also knows that we are going to make some mistakes. Mistakes do not bother him in the least. What concerns him is our willingness to say “yes” and embrace him, and mean it.