I am no longer the things of my past...I am the daughter of the Great I AM.

Exodus 3:14
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
2 Corithians 6:18
I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Lesson Learned Through Life Application

I realize that I often share about my kids, and the lessons I learn from them. These posts usually involve something good they do, or some great insight they share. It would be easy to read this blog or my Facebook page, and decide that I have the perfect children. Of course, isn't that always the case... we tend to share the good not the bad. Well, to keep things balanced, let me share a lesson Ethan learned yesterday.

As part of his school work, Ethan copies one of "George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." After he copies the rules as written, he is then required to re-write it in his own words.

Here is yesterday's rule: "The gestures of the body must be suited to the discourse you are upon." Ethan was having trouble with understanding. After some discussion, he wrote this, " Your body language should match the circumstances you are in." Even as he wrote it, I could tell that it still did not "click" with him. It wasn't long before a life application for this rule came about...

Ethan was doing something that I asked him to stop. He did stop, but it was after he did it a few more times first. (This is a bad habit we are working on.) When I realized that he was not going to stop immediately, I turned and picked up a wooden spoon. (In our house wooden spoons have many purposes... including being a good paddle when needed.) Now, I did not intend to spank over this infraction, but I did want him to realize I was serious. Usually, if I pick up a spoon, he will sit up and take notice to what I am about to tell him. For some reason, this time, he did not. He decided to try and make a joke out of it. He began acting goofy while I was talking to him. This did cause him to get a whack on the backside with the spoon. Then I had his attention.

So after we finished the discussion on stopping immediately when asked, we discussed his behavior while I was speaking with him. I explained that his gestures while I was disciplining did not match the circumstances he was in. He now understands the rule he copied... he also understands not to act goofy while I am lecturing him.

Life application is often the way God teaches us the meaning of his word. We can read scripture, and sometimes it just makes no sense to us. Then when some event takes place in our life, that scripture will come to mind. Then we can understand, and then we can cling to the word of God to get us through whatever the circumstance.

No comments:

Post a Comment