Buckeye Blues

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    When I was in third grade, my best friend “borrowed some buckeyes” from the science cabinet in the back of our classroom. Because we were best friends, he shared them with me. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t look at the teacher. I couldn’t face my parents because they had taught me not to steal. I ended up confessing that I had some of the buckeyes because someone had given them to me. It was a pretty lame story, but the teacher didn’t press it. I didn’t care; my conscience was clear.

     As parents one of our goals is that our children will make right decisions when we are not present. The key to this is the training of the conscience. Conscience is the sense of right and wrong that governs a person’s thoughts and actions.  Our consciences are developed within a context of culture, and the family is the most powerful and significant force in any culture.

    It is important that we teach the truth to our children.  Without a correct sense of right and wrong, our children are subject to the ever changing and corrupt values that are portrayed in society. When God created the nation of Israel after their deliverance from Egypt, He gave them the Ten Commandments to begin to build into them a new conscience and culture. Those Ten Commandments are a good place for anyone to start building a conscience.

    In Paul’s letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:5 and 3:9), Paul declares that a conscience can be good and clean.
   
    There are other scriptures that mark a downward spiral of the conscience.

• 1 Corinthians 8:7 mentions that the conscience is weak and can become defiled.
• Hebrews 10:22 describes a conscience that is guilty and therefore evil.
• 1 Timothy 4:2 warns that a conscience can become seared, obviously through continual and unconfessed wrongdoing.
• Isaiah 5:20 describes the condition of people who call right wrong and wrong right, who call light dark and dark light. Apparently, they have corrupted their consciences until they no longer are sensitive.

    The weak conscience of a child can be led down the wrong road to a corrupt conscience. Jesus said, “Woe to the one who causes one of these little ones to stumble.”

    On the other hand, we have a great opportunity to raise children who have a strong sense of right and wrong, who stand for right, who side with Jesus Christ. Let's guard our own consciences for the sake of those little ones who are watching us.
    Share a comment with us about an incident that shaped your conscience.


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    We are now in our fourth year of blogging. In addition to our blog, Patricia and I have discussed stepping out into the world of teleclasses, video blogs, podcasts, youtube, a membership, and more. The possibilities are a little overwhelming.

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Thoughts on Memorial Day

Do you have a Memorial Day tradition? Should you? What is it all about?

We are not just launching summer fun; we are celebrating something deep and foundational. We are being asked to have a moment of silence at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day to remember those who have given their lives to protect our freedoms.

Silence is not enough. Our children cannot benefit from our silence. When you gather to eat, perhaps your celebration could include these short ideas as part of the blessing of the meal. Here are some thoughts that include the history of Memorial Day as well as the Gettysburg Address (only 276 words). We believe that our gatherings can be enriched by our efforts.

MEMORIAL DAY
The roots of Memorial Day go back to the Civil War. Over 600,000 soldiers died in that conflict affecting every town, village, and family in the United States. After the war ended, almost everyone would travel and decorate the graves of those who had given their lives. “Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and was first observed on 30 May 1868.” (http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html)

To date, including all the wars our country has fought, over 1.2 million Americans have died in defense of the freedoms that we enjoy.

The Gettysburg Address delivered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 was to commemorate those who died on that particular battlefield. Although it was written a few years before Memorial Day was established, it expresses best what Memorial Day represents.

THE
GETTYSBURG
ADDRESS

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth
 on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and
 dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
 whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
 dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-
field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of
 that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave
 their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether
 fitting and proper that we should do this.

  But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate…we cannot
 consecrate…we cannot hallow…this ground. The brave men,
 living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it
 far above our poor power to add or detract. The world
 will little note nor long remember what we say here, but
 it can never forget what they did here.

 

It is for us, the  living, rather, 

to be dedicated here to the unfinished
 work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
 advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
 great task remaining before us…that from these honored
 dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
 they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here
 highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;
 that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
 freedom; and that government of the people, by the people,
 for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

November 19, 1863

COMMUNICATE WITH STORIES

Shorty Currie was a great storyteller. He told stories of growing up in southern Tennessee during the depression and his memories were rich. He told of the war, of work, of hunting, of sadness, of laughter. We laughed until our sides ached and until the tears rolled down our faces. And the one who laughed the hardest of all was Shorty Currie. Shorty was my dad.

One important way to communicate with children is through stories. Values and life lessons have always been passed on through stories. Mom tells about her favorite doll, dad shares a practical joke. Uncle Steve remembers the winter we all went sledding, he lost control, and everyone ended up in the creek.

Stories capture the emotions and connect us with our past. Our kids need this today. David Walsh says, that the ones who tell the stories shape the culture. Unfortunately, we let Hollywood tell the stories far too often. Your kids are interested in your stories simply because they are yours and in a very real sense theirs, too.

Stories have a power to help kids make right choices. In stories, they see others make mistakes and they learn. Whenever we would use a knife, my dad would tell this army story.

When they landed in the Phillipines during WW II, one of his buddies decided to open a coconut with a bayonet blade. He called to Shorty, “Hey, Currie, you silly old fool, do you want a piece of coconut?” My dad laughed, refused, and passed the tent. The same guy then yelled, “Currie, get the medico!” He had placed the coconut between his legs and tried to cut it open, the blade slipped, severing the artery in his leg. In less than a minute, he was gone.

Do you think this caused me to be careful with a knife? You bet it did.

Our best movie screen is our God-given imagination. We have a great opportunity to help our children develop this gift. Just try. Begin. Choose some stories to tell. Make yourself a note or two so that you do not forget. I think you will be surprised at the results.

When our children were small, Patricia made up stories about a little monkey named “Pickety-Pockety.” She used this imaginary character to teach the consequences of bad choices. She didn’t have to preach because she captured them with a story. Then when we read the Bible, the kids would often make the connection.

Stories help us pass on values and principles “under the table” so to speak. It’s not didactic. It flows. It’s interesting. It’s worth the effort. Telling stories is one way to enable your children to think ahead. You are equipping them for life with stories.

SHAPE THE CULTURE; TELL A STORY!