No empty chairs

I have been thinking about this phrase a lot lately.  It could be because I keep hearing it, almost like a tantalizingly elusive phrase that is barely beyond hearing in many conversations, yet seems to tickle my awareness with its frequent presence...

...no empty chairs...

 I think I should post it somewhere, immortalize it in some plaque perhaps, as a way to remind my children that there is always a place for them.  No matter what.

More importantly, I need to post it up for me, to remind me that this is the mentality I should parent with: to make my children feel that not only is there is always room for them in my heart, but also that they are irreplacable.

In the past I have said things like, "Leave now!" or "You will be welcome when you have a good attitude!"--often with a little too much, umm...emphasis :S.  I have wondered in the past few days if my children truly realize that in my heart (and in reality) they are each a unique and wonderful part of our family and our family will not be complete without any one of them, no matter how many we may have.

I have seen their eyes light up recently as I have called attention to their particular place in "the line up," each one with their unique personalities, their unique abilities to love those older and younger than them in their own way.  They have each been born at this particular time, in this particular place, to work their own wonders.

This morning it hit home again as I was reminded by the Holy Ghost to make sure that one particular child knew that they would always have a place and that they were cherished for who they were, no matter what they did.  My thoughts and studies led me to the account of the prodigal son and something stuck out to me: when the son reflected on his past life with his family with regret, considering how even the servants had enough to eat, it didn't cross his mind that his father wanted hiim home...just the way he was.  The son was the one who had left.  The father hadn't kicked him out.  The son's place was always there. In fact, the father went out to embrace the wayward son even before the wayward son had expressed any remorse, any repentance.

Ought we not to feel the same way? And our children....should they not also know that there will always be a place for them, in our homes and in our hearts?