Thursday, August 26, 2010

82) Teach children lessons using stories - Is There Love ?

"Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."
Karl Menninger

A prison in Brazil ran a special project. Instead of treating prisoners harshly and violently, they decided on treating them with kindness and concern. At first the prisoners were suspicious, because no one had treated them well before. But the jail authorities continued undeterred in their attempts to reach out to the prisoners and treat them with some dignity. In time, the inmates realized that it was for real and dropped their guard to return smiles with smiles; kindness with kindness. As the project reached an advanced stage, the Warden decided to entrust prison security to a prisoner who was serving a life sentence. Everyone was shocked. But the Warden had faith in the prisoner and in his project. The prisoner faithfully carried out his responsibilities. When the media heard of this unusual experiment, they queried the
prisoner: Now that you are in charge of security and serving a life sentence, why don't you run away? The prisoner replied promptly: Who can run away from love?

Parents need to ask themselves the same question: Who can run away from love? We read and hear of children running away from home. Some who want to do it, but do not dare to carry out their plans, stay back, unhappy at the way things are. Children are quick to see through the motions that parents go through in their parenting. They recognize the ones burning with love from the ones who do not make serious attempts to master parenting. And they are confounded. It is not that there are perfect parents; but there are parents who try to be perfect and those who do not try enough. And when children find that love is wanting, they want to go where love will be plentiful - perhaps outside the home, they believe. It is up to us to fill the void that children feel.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

81) Teach children lessons using stories- Purpose vs Problems

"If you take care of the things that are dear to God, He will take care of the things that are dear to you." Howard Taylor


In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren , Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for..

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain. But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

That is Rick Warren's approach to life. What is ours? How do our children see life? To them is it a mad rat race of making money and acquiring things? Do they have time and thought for God and others in their life? Isn't it time we pondered and we got our children to think?

Thursday, August 12, 2010

80) Teach children lessons using stories- Happiness IS an Inside Job

"Very little is needed to make life happy. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking." Marcus Aurelius.

A blind 92 year old woman entered an old age home, after her husband of 70 years died. The attendant at the home tried to explain to the woman about the room she would occupy. She thrilled at the idea; was almost euphoric. The puzzled attendant asked her:"You have not been to the room yet. How can you rejoice?" The Woman replied: "Happiness is something you decide. Every morning I decide to be happy with what I have and not be unhappy with what I don't have, because each day is a gift. I have also many happy memories, which I try to relive. So, young man keep depositing in your memory bank. You will never be short of happiness."

What a special woman! It is great that in a deary world we still have happy people to give us a reason to be hopeful. Are we happy; do we spread happiness? Do our children learn to be happy by seeing us happy? Or, are they weighed down with cares, because that is the way we see life - care-filled, anxious and depressed? Do we teach our children that every cloud has a silver lining; that dawn follows the dark night; that a crisis is the test of character; that there many others who are worse off; that there are many happy memories to relive; that each day is a gift from God to be thankfully accepted and made happy with happy thoughts. As Marcus Aurelius puts it: it is in our way of thinking. When we change our way of thinking, we change the way we look at life. Then happiness is just a thought away.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

79) Teach children lessons using stories- Sharing

"People who live for self never succeed in satisfying self or anybody else" Trumbull.

A farmer who grew superior corn and won prizes at State Fairs for the quality of his produce, shared seeds with his neighbors. Asked why he did something that would create competition, he said: "Didn't you know that the wind picks up pollen grains from ripening corn and swirls it around from field to field. If my neighbor grew inferior corn, through cross-pollination my corn will get badly affected, in time. If I grow good corn, my neighbor should also grow good corn. That way, we help one another. Mine is superior because of the extra effort I put in."

The farmer acted contrary to today's dictum of self above all else. He showed the wisdom in sharing; in including others in his scheme of things.

From us do our children learn the wisdom in sharing? Do they understand the folly in promoting self over others? That sorrows are halved and joys doubled, when shared?
That we should treat others as we would want to be treated? If they have not learned from us, where else will they gain such wisdom? It is time we pondered this key area in parenting.