My wife found this excellent article with five very wise observations and parenting tips for families in today’s world. All of the five are excellent. I recommend it.
The first one about the effect of the priority of amusements for children today is also a reflection of how families think about getting through the moment rather than thinking about the long-term effect of what is happening. This is also the case with the lack of putting priority on practicing our faith and with not putting priority on time for our marriages. Perhaps it is up to the older generation who have more time perspective to remind in tactful ways of the long-term view. But taking the longer-term perspective also needs to become more of a cultural habit of our society than it currently is whether the issue is family finances, raising of children, considering divorce, or professional growth.
Flowers rescued from the first frost and arranged in a basket that was my grandmother’s
As one who dabbles in gardening, I like to keep track of first frost dates. Here in northern CT, this has been a wonderfully warm fall and we have not even been close to a cold night until the last two nights. There has been frost in each of them. I went out on Saturday to do the things that gardeners do on the last day before frost. I gathered green tomatoes and cut zinnias, marigolds, daisy mums, Shasta daisies, and a few other flowers for a couple last fresh bouquets. Never mind that I hadn’t really picked many until then. It’s the sense that it’s the last time I’ll have that opportunity until next year. More then once I’ve been known to go out with a flashlight to get those last minute items. In fact, I picked the marigolds in the dark this year after arriving home from a church event. The first frost seldom arrives on a convenient night. Like judgment day, or consequences from bad habits, first frost descends into the schedule just when you wish it wouldn’t. Blessed are those who have been listening to the weatherman ahead and those with a little margin in their schedule so they have time to do the last minute things. It reminds me of Jesus’ words concerning his second coming, “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes” (Luke 12:37 NIV 2011).
Our hearts are grieving for the families affected by the tragic shootings in Oregon. Once again, the ordinary people who were there became extraordinary heroes. On Facebook, one person nominated as the most courageous person in America the second person in that room who was asked by the shooter if they were a Christian and answered yes anyway. I would like to know about that true martyr for our faith. I also applaud the Army vet who charged the shooter. I pray for Chris Mintz’s recovery from his wounds. These are the names I want on my lips, not the name of the shooter.
But learn from situation
As unpleasant as the task may be, it is important for the prevention of further such incidents that we learn about the perpetrator. Once again a person whose mental health was questionable had unwise access to guns and used them against innocent people in a place where he would not encounter armed resistance. He wanted to achieve media notoriety. I learn from the news of his hatred of Christianity. I believe he was also from a single parent home, an additional risk factor. In an eerie parallel to Sandy Hook, his mother was fascinated with guns. His actions also indicate character issues, lack of respect for others, no compassion, and insensitivity to bloodshed and violence.
Mental health is a difficult issue
People will wring their hands and ask, “What can be done?” Politicians will point to gun control. Indeed, there is work to be done in the area of screening access to firearms for those whose mental health records are questionable. But that is a very difficult agenda in a land where we cherish individual freedom. Families cannot even get help for those whom they know are mentally ill because the sufferer hasn’t done anything illegal yet. By the time they have it is too late either for them or for others. Similarly, families and friends of Alzheimer victims are powerless until either the sufferer is hospitalized for other reasons or a caretaker is hospitalized for injuries, even though the ability to choose of their loved one has declined past the point of safety for all concerned. The issue of mental health in America is much broader than just the gun control aspect.
Learning to value the valuable not the familiar
But almost no one will talk about the deeper issues involved here. Why is a mentally ill person like this shooter thinking that it is more desirable to become infamous than to remain one of the crowd? Might it be partly because we as a culture give too much adulation and credit to those who happen to appear regularly on television? Who even knows the names of those who found movements of charity? Who notices those who head up cancer research? Teachers are more likely to be blamed for low scores than given credit for dealing with increasing numbers of special-needs students. Our society does not know its real heroes! It adores people whose faces simply appear in movies and on TV rather than sorting out those whose character and achievements truly deserve recognition. There is something very wrong with how our culture rewards people based only on media exposure.
Media that considers its effect, not just its click numbers
I have been pleased with the effort of some news organizations to follow the lead of the Oregon community where the shooting happened and attempt to front page the names of victims and heroes while barely mentioning the perpetrator. This is a wholesome trend because it considers the effects of the way the news is covered. It counters the usual trend where media is driven by clicks, not by value. To make a lasting difference, there will need to be leaders in media and government that desire to set a course for the moral uplift of America. Negative portrayal of Christians in media today has to be contributing to the culture’s sad turn toward ungodliness and rejection of the Christian heritage of our country.
Needed: A resurgence of the fear of God
I have also noted before and repeat again that one thing that needs to change in our society in order for the culture of violence to change is this. There needs to be a revival of the fear of God including teaching about the accounting that each person must give to God after they die. People who kill others and then commit suicide think it is over. Jesus clearly taught us that it is not over (John 5:28, 29)! Our accountability for our actions has just begun. We may have escaped earthly accountability but we cannot escape God’s judgment. “We know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:30-31 NIV 2011).
Violent programming programs brains for violence
Finally, to change the violent climate of our country, we must stop loving violence in our entertainment. The Bible warns that cultures that love violence will be dogged by it. “Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you” (Ezek. 35:6 NIV). When children grow up watching hundreds of murders on television and committing virtual murders in video venues every day, why should we be surprised if some people on the margins whose ability to separate fiction and reality is impaired and whose ethical intelligence is very low commit real world mayhem? Is it not probable that if violence had not been pre-programmed in by media habits, then their acting out would manifest entirely differently?
Our UMC District Superintendent for the Connecticut District, Ken Kieffer wrote a powerful admonition on the destructive power of sin in our lives. He uses an anaology that communicates well and writes with humor too. There is much wisdom in this article.
I have been concerned lately that my desk and my shop seem to be getting more cluttered. I’m not one of those naturally neat people, yet I like things organized. Busyness, accumulating stuff, and time pressure seem to conspire to increase the disorder. I am busy enough that I very seldom find time to just stop and organize my space. So I have adopted a new strategy. I am seeking to increase organization on the fly just a little at a time.
When I see a book on the desk that I am no longer using, I pick it up and put it away rather than looking past it to find the one thing I was searching for, as I used to do. If, while I take a phone call, I see a scrap of paper that has lost its usefulness, I toss it rather than ignore it. I’m hoping in this way to make progress on decluttering my desk.
In the same way, when I am looking for something in the shop, rather just push something around on the loaded bench, I try to put it away while I have my hands on it. Yesterday, while searching my little storage bins for a particular type of nail, I noticed several possibilities for consolidations that would open more spots to use. So I consolidated a few drawers while I looked. I’m hoping, before too long, I will have a cleaner working space in the shop too.
I guess I am onto something as I was reading advice from a specialty blogger who recommended 7 ways to get organized for those who have no time to do so. Number two in her list was to “Make progress in small slices of time.” http://www.simplify101.com/organizing-tips/get-organized/no-time-to-organize/. In fact she suggested setting aside very short blocks of time, like 10 or 15 minutes and just doing what you can do to make progress in that time, deliberately resisting the idea that you need to do the whole job.
I just put one notebook back on the shelf where it goes; a notepad into the drawer, and a scrap in the circular file. There goes a book and a file folder. Yes, progress!
This article was a very interesting read. As the author, Mark Tooley, suggests, Pope Francis’ persona does invite comparisons to Pope John Paul II. I believe it is important for us as Protestants to pray for the Pope too because his influence in our world is so important to the overall impression that non-Christians have of Christianity and because his decisions are so important for future Christians, both Catholic and Protestant.
Rev. Dr. JoAnne Lyon, General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church and a leader in the Pan-Methodist movement, was among those invited to greet Pope Francis on the White House Lawn. She wrote a very thoughtful reflection concerning that occasion. It is also an explanation of how the cause of the poor, the immigrant and those impacted by disaster in our world is especially important to those who are disciples of Jesus and also claim to be inheritors of the teachings of John Wesley. It is an inspiring read.
Bishop Schnase encourages the church to also join in service projects which they don’t sponsor.
The church over the years develops its own habits and routines, including its own ideas of service to others. But as Bishop Schnase points out in this thoughtful blog post, if the church only serves in its own ways, it will miss relating to many in today’s culture who are spiritual seekers but do not relate to the institutional church. Often these people are involved in service and glad to work with others of like compassion for human need. Even more basic, the church that won’t join hands with others will miss many opportunities to help needy people and express the love of Christ in practical service.
I have long said that one of parents’ main jobs is teaching their children the meaning of “no.” Here is a great article from the Hartford Courant in which the writer, John Rosemond, calls this kind of teaching for children “Vitamin N.” Mr. Rosemond also mentions that far from dashing the happiness of children, the experience of “Vitamin N” actually contributes to their long-term happiness. On the other hand, the nonstop indulgence common today is producing increasingly depressed people who can’t get enough kicks to keep the party going.
These two articles talk about scientific investigations that have started to show that what happens in one generation can affect the genetic makeup of the next. Specifically, the first article showed that a specific gene was altered in the children of Jewish Holocaust victims compared to children of Jews who did not experience the Holocaust. If this kind of linkage proves out, it will be one huge reason why the Bible teaches that God is very interested that the home be preserved intact. Breaking up a home is traumatic for children. Our society does not think about how its actions and lifestyles affect its children. Then we expect the children to do better and better on tests regardless of what is happening at home. It doesn’t work that way. A stable, loving and supportive home environment is the beginning and continuing foundation of a good education. It may prove to also be related genetically to the mental health of the next generation.
