My friend Tammy Davis sent me an email a couple of days ago that really spoke to my heart. I asked her permission to share it here. How true it is that our children need our affirmation daily to be able to survive in today's world. Tammy is the Children's Ministry Director at Lakeland Presbyterian Church in Flowood.
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I was reading the Hitting Home blog site (it is listed below) last night and thought I would share this one with you. It served as a reminder of how important affirmation is to all our kids (husbands and wives too). This blog is aimed at the ministry of preteens so this article, Affirm Them, Now! Is aimed at dealing with preteens, but they aren’t the only ones who need it.
I remember Elayna coming home in Kindergarten upset one day because she was told her clothes were not cute enough. She came home from church one night a year or so ago upset that she wasn’t, according to someone else, “skinny” enough. Will hated riding the school bus because of the name calling. Caleb had to look up the word retard in a dictionary after being called that. His response when he got home was “I am certainly not slow in my ability to learn. I don’t know why they would say that.”
I hear kids at church call other kids stupid (I do tell them that stupid is certainly not a polite word and that I don’t want to hear them use it at church.) among other less than friendly things. SO, it is not just the world of school and the neighborhood where our kids are being torn down on a daily basis. Sometimes it is at church or even at home by misguided words from family members.
We would love to protect them at all times, but we can’t. However, we can affirm them and build them up so that can withstand what the world throws their way. Hopefully at home who we are is OK.
I am trying to drill into my kids minds and hearts that they were woven in the womb by a God who loves them more than I ever could, that they are fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator of the universe in His image, that they are a child of the King of Kings, and they will spend an eternity in His presence. How much more fantastic could they possibly be?
You can read the Hitting Home blog post here.
In Christ,
Tammy
1 comment:
This is a great post. I was at a friend's home and her son was calling her younger daughter fat. It continued on and on and on throughout our entire visit. I tried to stop it because I couldn't bear to hear it. She never said a word and just shrugged her shoulders. It bothered me so much. No child is perfect, but allowing our children to degrade each other like that....
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