Do You Feel Out of Control?

Never stop learning

When we are children, our brains are like sponges! We soak up all the information we can get as fast as we can. In fact, it is known that ninety percent of our brain growth occurs by the age of five! Wow! [www.firstthingsfirst.org]

Therefore, it is so important to teach our young children and expose them to as much educational material and experiences as we can. It’s exceedingly difficult to spend a lot of time and attention on our kids when we are single-again parents. We all know this but if what we are teaching is presented in a fun and enjoyable way, our child will absorb and retain the lesson almost immediately for life. And so, we read bedtime stories, we play games with them, we apply numbers and the alphabet into their daily lives, we listen to them and so much more.

Prejudice by Instruction

The lessons we teach our children/grandchildren also include how to handle emotions that will carry them throughout their lives. It’s what we grow up with and in many cases, what kind of people we become. Feelings like happiness and joyfulness, kindness, warmth, friendliness, gratitude, patience, and, of course, love and on and on are created by our circumstances and relationships with others.

Unfortunately, these same situations can and do create unwanted feelings such as intenseness, judgements, prejudice, misunderstandings, not “seeing” the other person, and violence to name but a few. It’s a known fact that “young children learn about prejudice by instruction, and older children by experience.” [www.sciencedaily.com]

They go on to say, “Research has shown that between ages 3 and 6, children learn about and begin to apply stereotypes and can recognize overt discrimination…But between 6 and 10 years old, they become aware of other people's stereotypes, able to perceive subtle discrimination by age 10. We need to help create situations and environments that foster positive experiences among children from all backgrounds."

Is Change Possible?

Learn how to love!

What we have seen in our nation over the last two weeks is certainly appalling. No one wants to see or experience such horror again. The subject is deeper than we can cover or explain here, and we certainly are not the experts. Let us just say that if we want to see change—if we want our children to learn better--we must realize and accept there have been rights and wrongs on both sides of the protest line and begin there. We only need to read the history books to know discrimination, prejudice, and hatred have been in existence since time began. BUT, so have kindness, goodness, joy, and love! May we not allow this nightmare to continue. ALL people deserve a chance. We can do better! We can learn better!

Who Has the Last Word?

It seems as long as we can remember, when situations in our lives get out of control and we know nothing else to do, we turn around and blame the God of the Universe for everything that’s wrong in the world. It’s pretty common, but it’s about as incorrect as we can get.

There are two truths to consider: first, the God of the Universe is also the God of Creation. Nothing exists without Him. After He breathed life into the world, (heavens, earth, light (day), darkness (night), water, sky, land, seas, vegetation, stars, sea and land animals, and human beings) He had a wonderful plan.

Because God loved people, He created a real place for them called the Garden of Eden. It was His perfect and wonderful environment filled with all good things. This is how God wanted the world to exist forever…the perfect gift…with no room for anger or violent struggles.

The second truth for us to know is that human beings (mainly Adam and Eve) quite frankly, messed everything up. They disobeyed God and sinned against Him. The Garden of Eden was no longer the perfect place. They had children, Cain and Abel, who also sinned. And on and on and on…

Humans were out of control. God was not. We cannot blame our problems and actions on Him. Why? Because He is the God of Love. That’s all He wants for us. Love. He’s our perfect example. We have misplaced the blame.

Let’s turn around and try harder. It will be worth it.

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT).

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT).

[We challenge you to read all 13 verses of 1 Corinthians 13].