I Am

Trying to teach my kids that they need to take responsibility not just for their actions but for things they can improve.

Whenever you face a choice you can choose to take a positive action or no action.  Simple positive actions repeated over time determine the life you lead.

If they see a piece of garbage on the ground they need to stop and pick it up.  "I'm not the one that dropped it," is not acceptable.

This very simple lesson is important to me.  One person can make a difference.

When asked who is in charge "I am" should be the first and only answer that ever enters their minds.

A little effort each day will result in huge rewards over time.

We use piano to demonstrate this to them.  When they get a new recital song, the song is always very difficult.  By practicing every day little by little the song becomes possible.  Everyday  . . . no matter how inconvenient.

Is there something you know you should be doing?  What's stoping you from taking positive action?

I want my kids to know in their souls if they don't do it "who will?"

When you do positive things it increases the chances that positive things will happen to you.  Your smallest actions affect you and the people around you even if you are not aware of it.

The foundational prayer that we pray with our kids is "God, Help them do the next right thing!"  This takes a lot of courage.  When you are a teenager and your friends are experimenting with drugs and alcohol "No." Takes courage.
When you take responsibility for your employees actions this too takes courage.

When asked who is in charge around here? "I am!" Takes courage!

This week I read James 4.  The great thing about the bible is that every time I read it something new speaks to me.  The verse  ^"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."  

The important thing that jumps out in this verse is "for them!"  I truly believe that sin is part of the personal relationship that we each have with God. What is a sin for me might not be for you.  Evil is 

By seeing something that can be done better and not attempting to do something about it you have sinned.  

Walking by a piece of garbage on the street "that you see" and not stopping to pick it up is a sin!  This is a very simplistic example but an easy lesson for kids.


 Same Thought


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Bad at Names

I am really bad at names.  Everybody says they are bad at names but I really am.  Yesterday I was told that a little girl died in an orphanage Annette and I have helped in the past.  I spent a considerable effort trying to get straight which orphanage was being described.

Finally I said the one where my son played and laughed with the kids in the rain and I slept on the floor?  Instantly my sons face and this other wet face popped into my mind.

The moment is crystal clear in my memory of these wet happy faces gathering buckets of rain water.  The laughter and the joy that filled the air that night will live with me forever.

This morning I asked for a picture of the little girl that had died of typhoid.  The picture shocked me to my core.  The face is the same face that I envisioned.  This one really hurt.

I'm sorry I didn't ask your name then.  I'm sorry that even if I had I would not have remembered your name today.  I will remember your laughter and the joy you brought to my ten year old son forever.


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Post Traumatic Growth