Patience To Teach

Is the world beginning to go stark raving mad? How long has this been going on? Maybe it’s just a new heightened awareness being brought to the public eye of the tremendous child abuse problem in the world today. I’ve tried to make sense of why adults would shake a baby causing irreversible brain damage and even death. Why beat or burn or scald a child with hot water? That’s never taught anybody anything except to hate. I’ve concluded that less and less “parents” have the capability to patiently teach their children. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time in their life anymore. A two-year-old is expected to rationalize and solve problems as easily as an educated twenty-year-old. When it doesn’t happen, frustration sets in, the child is confused, the crying erupts and the beatings begin. The situation is growing and festering because what the children are being taught today is what they take into adulthood and give their children.
While doing a little shopping, a man noticed a lady pushing a grocery cart with her one-year-old riding in the seat. The child reached out and asked for the cookies on the shelf. Her mother said, “No”. The little girl began to cry loudly. The mother said, “Now Missy, we’re half way done, it won’t be long.” As it regularly happens in the grocery store, you tend to find yourself within close proximity, of the same people as you shop the aisles of the store. In the candy aisle he witnessed the little girl again wanting something from the shelf and was again told, “NO”, by her mother. This time the girl started kicking and screaming. The mother said, “There, there, Missy, only two more aisles and then we’ll be done.” At the checkout counter the girl reached for gum. When her mom spanked her hand and said “NO”, the little girl began to scream louder than ever. The mother said patiently, “Missy, we’ll be through this checkout stand in five minutes, then we can go home and both have a nice nap.” The man saw the woman and her daughter in the parking lot of the store and approached them, “I couldn’t help but notice how patient you were with little Missy in the store and wanted to commend you for your parenting skills”, the man explained. The woman looked at the man quizzically and replied, “Thank you, but, my little girl’s name is Francine. …Uh, I’m Missy.”
[Matthew 19 & Mark 10] Is there a solution? YES! Each of these chapters begins with an argument about divorce and remarriage. I know of nothing more devastating to a child than to experience the pains of a divorce. To Jesus this argument only brought out the self-satisfying ambitions of men and the non-committal attitudes they had toward marriage. Then it’s recorded that the children were brought to Him for a blessing. Why? Were children suffering then as today? Were some children a pain in the neck back then? Probably so, because the disciples tried to stop them from gathering around Jesus, but He took them into His arms and told those present that the Kingdom of God looks at children in a totally different way. Children know nothing of the greed and lusts of the world and have not yet eaten of the tree of knowledge of right and wrong. Eternal life is theirs. Then a man asked how he could get eternal life. He states he follows all the commandments. Jesus says that’s not enough. You must be committed to God, not to the world, and eternal life is possible. Patience for teaching children is a product of peace, found in God’s love. Raise your children with the truth and love of God in your heart.