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.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

23. THE OLD LADY AND ANA-PROVERBS 26: 18-27 (Be Not A Deciever)

Ana could not understand why her grand mother, who is always so calm and cheerful, was so upset after a visit from Judy, the next door neighbor who has a habit of criticizing everyone. Addressing her grand mother she asked:
“Gramma, why does Aunty Judy always say bad things about everyone whenever she comes to visit us? You have always said that that God does not like people who spread bad rumors about others, haven’t you?
The old lady, smiling at the child’s comment, replied:
“Yes my dear child, God has indeed spoken over and over against people who spend their time spreading lies and rumors about others or cause harm by their manipulations. Let me read my favorite passage in the Holy Bible on this subject. It is from Proverbs Chapter 26, Verses 18-27:”

Like a madman shooting deadly, burning arrows
is the one who tricks a neighbor and then says,
"I was just joking”.

“You see Ana, God does not mince words when he is describing these people. They go about spreading deadly gossip and fooling their neighbors and when they are challenged they claim that they did not mean any harm, they were only joking! They are truly deceivers and are not normal.”
Little Ana nodding her head in agreement then asked her grand mother how they are able to do so much damage to so many people. The old lady responded by continuing to read from the bible:

Without wood, a fire will go out,
and without gossip, quarreling will stop.
Just as charcoal and wood keep a fire going,
a quarrelsome person keeps an argument going.
The words of a gossip are like tasty bits of food;
people like to gobble them up.

“You see Ana, in the same way a fire will go out if you do not put in wood to keep it burning, so also quarreling will not continue unless someone brings gossip to keep the argument going. The truth is that people love to hear gossip and will readily and willingly listen to, and believe it. That is why these decieving people are so dangerous. Let me read more for you:”

Kind words from a wicked mind
are like a shiny coating on a clay pot.
Those who hate you may try to fool you with their words,
but in their minds they are planning evil.
People's words may be kind, but don't believe them,
because their minds are full of evil thoughts.

“In this section, God describes the many ways that these people can harm you. They can come to you with kind words while hiding their wicked intention, when you have a nice shiny look that hides a rotten clay pot underneath. These people will say anything to fool you while hiding their hate and their evil intentions and plans against you. This is why God warns you that when they come to you with nice, kind words you must remain on your guard, for behind this kind appearance they will be harboring wicked, evil thoughts against you.”

By this time, Ana was sitting upright, with her eyes wide open and obviously very perturbed by the all the bad things that can be caused by these people who have no regard to the damage they do. Looking for an answer, she asked her grand mother:
“Gramma what happens to these people, does God let them continue doing their wickedness?”
The old lady shook her head from side to side as she continued reading:

Lies can hide hate, but the evil will be plain to everyone.
Whoever digs a pit for others will fall into it.
Whoever tries to roll a boulder down on others,

Will be crushed by it.

“This is your answer Ana. They may think that they can cover their hate with lies, but you cannot hide your intentions from the world. Your evil ways must come to light and the world will see you as the deceiver that you are. And even more, these people never seem to realize that inevitably, the hole you dig for others, you will stumble and fall into it yourself, and the boulder that you try to use to crush others will eventually crush you.
In the end you will always lose out as people get to know you and your wicked intentions."

Ana remained very quiet for a few moments and then as she got up from the chair, she turned to her grand mother and, with a level of wisdom that far outweighs her tender age and experience, remarked:

“Now I understand why you get so upset when Aunty Judy starts to speak her lies. Does she not realize that she is breaking God’s ninth commandment which says:

You must never bear false witness against your neighbor."

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