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.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

39. THE OLD LADY AND ANA-PSALM 100:1-5 (A Psalm of Thanksgiving)

Little Ana sat comfortably enjoying her second piece of her mother’s pumpkin pie as she listened to her Uncle Joe lamenting the fact that this special day, set aside to thank God for all that he has provided to us and celebrated in many countries around the world, has become so commercialized that it has lost its real meaning.
“It seems” he said “we are more concerned with the size of the turkey and getting ready for black Friday’s shopping plans than praying to Almighty God and giving thanks for his bounties.”
He was very annoyed that the President goes on television to “pardon” a turkey but never took time to thank God for bringing us through another year. He concluded that as a society, we have lost the real meaning of giving thanks to God. It seems that that the more we get, the more we expect, the less grateful we become and the more we demand. God has now become an after thought. He concluded that we should all go back and read and digest Psalm 100, the most beautiful Psalm of Thanksgiving ever recorded.
Later that day, Ana approached her grand mother to ask her opinion of Uncle Joe’s comment and his recommendation. The old lady beckoned her to come and sit next to her and as she picked up her favorite bible she said:
“Yes indeed my dear child, your uncle Joe was very correct about the attitude in today’s society. No longer do we take the time to remember that we got here with the help of God and that he is the source of every blessing we have. Psalm 100 was actually written to help us to deal with this attitude and to remind us of our need to always give thanks.”
Opening her bible to Psalm 100 she began by explaining that in Verses 1-5, God, speaking through David, gave us a series of four commands to give thanks to the Almighty. She continued by reading Verse 1:

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all the Earth!
"This is the First Command;
The Psalmist is reminding us that in response to God’s goodness to us we must show our gratitude by shouting out with the strength of our feeling for the whole world to know. Instead, as your uncle said, God has become just a convenient after thought ”

Briefly pausing to allow Ana to assimilate the information, she began reading Verse 2:

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

"The Second Command is to serve the Lord with joy and happiness in everything you do in his name. Whether you feed the hungry, or comfort the sick, or clothe the naked, or help the needy, if you do so in God’s name, you are doing God’s work and you are giving thanks to God. To simply to show to the world the joy and happiness you feel toward God for all he has done for you is itself a way of thanking God.”
Ana by now marveling at her grand mother wonderful insight, listened intently as she read Verse 3:

Know that the Lord, He is our God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are his people and the sheep of His pasture.

"The Third Command is a firm reminder of who we are. We are the children of God. He will lead us in the right direction and Like the sheep who look to the shepherd to lead them to green pastures so too must we be. In the same way a child give thanks to the parents by honoring their wishes, so too, do we to God Almighty.”

Taking a deep breath, the old lady closed her eyes for a moment as she silently thanked God for giving her this opportunity to help her grand child, then she continued to read Verses 4 and 5:
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.
"This is the Fourth Command that we come before him giving him thanks and praise and we recognize that his goodness and love for us and his faithfulness to us will be everlasting.
This indeed is the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Nothing else matters, not the turkey or the trimmings or the shopping."
As she raised her head, she also raised her open hands to heaven and exclaimed in a firm and definitive voice:


"God bless your Uncle Joe for reminding us of this fact!"


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