PREAMBLE

PREAMBLE

“Teach a child in the way he should go;

And when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

These words taken from Proverb 22:6 speak loudly of the responsibility of parents and caregivers to the children entrusted to them. In these modern days with the advent of such a large and diverse selection of electronic gadgets, our children are bombarded with so many distractions from every direction that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with their spiritual development.

We as adults, often overwhelmed by the demands for survival, are guilty of neglecting our responsibilities of ensuring our children’s growth. We are losing sight of the fact that at this stage children are at their most receptive phase for absorbing information and unless we make an effort to help them, they are likely to acquire wrong information from other sources.

I believe no one is better equipped or better placed to do the job than the parent or the caregiver. By making use of every opportunity to teach the words of Jesus Christ, to read the Holy Bible as well as by setting personal examples we can build our children’s faith and offer them alternative examples to live by. In this way we can prepare them to deal with the many and varied temptations they will face in life as they go forward.

These stories under the banner “The Old Lady and Ana” grew out of a discussion I had with my cousin Starr Sabga during which we lamented that our children are not being exposed to reading and discussing the bible as we were. We both felt that as a result of this we are missing a very important opportunity to expose them to God’s words and running the risk of losing them.

The stories are strictly my interpretation of selected passages from the Bible based on my Christian education and on my own life experience. They are meant for the younger child, as examples of how we may use day to day experiences to learn about God’s word. They are by no means exhaustive but I trust they may serve to get other parents and caregivers to do the same.

If this happens, then I would consider myself fully rewarded.

Monday, March 22, 2010

3. THE OLD LADY AND ANA -MATTHEW 6:23-24(Do not Worry)

“Gramma I am very worried” Ana said, looking at her grand mother with a frown borne of genuine concern and anxiety. “My best friend’s daddy has lost his job and might lose his home
and she is crying all the time and I don’t know what to say to her. Why is God not helping them?"

The old lady, sensing stress beyond Ana’s tender age, beckoned her to come sit with her on the couch.
“Let us listen to what God has to say to people who are worried about their lives”.

She then opened her trusted bible to the Gospel of Matthew 6: 25-34, and began to read aloud:




Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food,
and the body more important than clothes?

“you see Ana, God is telling you that you need not worry about what you have to eat or drink or wear. None of this is as important to God as your life."

The old lady continued:

“Listen to this, God has more to say”:




Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?

“Have you ever wondered how the birds that fly around get there food. They don’t grow anything and have no home to store anything. They get everything from God. Don’t you think God will do the same for you who is more valuable to him than them.”

Ana nodded her head in approval but still appeared worried and confused. The old lady drew her closer and said;
“Let’s read some more”:




Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“God said worry does not help, you don’t live any longer. Also worrying about clothes makes no sense, the beautiful lilies of the field do nothing but get their beauty from God. Even Solomon the wisest king could not match this. And if God will do this for the lilies, don’t think he will do the more for you, his favorite.”

Ana smiled, she was relieved and asked her grandmother, what should she do.
The old lady answered;

“God has the answer, listen”




So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?'
or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
For the pagans run after all these things,
and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

“Notice he said stop worrying about what we eat, or drink or wear, leave that for those who don’t believe in God. You must trust that God knows what you need and he will always provide for you”.

Now, beaming with joy, Ana hugged her grandmother and thanked her for all her help and then asked;

“Gramma, how should I tell my friend not to worry?”

She replied, "God gave us the answer”:




But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.



“Tell you friend, trust in God and his goodness and know he will provide everything. And do not worry about tomorrow, you have enough to worry about today”.

With eyes wide open and a deep sight of relief, little Ana jumped up, kissed her grand mother and as she ran out of the room, stated loud and clear, for all to hear:


“Thank you God, you are wonderful”.





Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)