My family and I recently started going to First Baptist Church of Indiana as a means to spend more time together and to strengthen our spiritual connectedness as well. A bus comes buy Sunday morning and picks up various families in our neighborhood and takes us to church then drops us back off after service.
As you would expect there are all types of people that attend attend such a large church because they visit a lot of impoverished neighborhoods to pick people up. So this past Sunday was the first time one of our daughters attended...she was NOT pleased!
The entire trip she complained about how "ghetto" the children were (a large portion of the ridership are kids attending without their parents - sad but true - and they do have difficulty with authority figures on the bus). I tried several times to calm her down reminding her that 1. she was unruly just like the kids she was angered by at one point and 2. it's futile to allow the actions of others to cause us suffering.
Long story short, we get home and I pulled her and another of our kids to the side and tell them that they were being just as negative as the kids on the bus - both of them looked at me in disbelief that I had said such a thing. I went on to describe how they were being overly judgmental of people they do not know. I further explained that some - no - most of the people attending First Baptist are right where they need to be receiving spiritual food that will hopefully lead to their enlightenment and salvation.
I wasn't done though. I continued to drill into their minds the fact that everyone is not on the same level spiritually and you can add to that the fact that not everyone has the same parenting skills to teach their kids better manners. I told them that there is a way to constructively get your point across without belittling the so called trouble makers.
Finally, when we are judgmental we are saying that we are better than the person or persons being judged and that's not the way to be. It weakens our our own spirituality when we do so. As the saying goes, when you point the finger at someone you have to remeber there are four pointing back at you.
Meditate on this: I will exert more understanding and compassion for those I do not agree with.
Have a PERFECT day!
Michael
MIIS
Whew, you're so right, Mike. I have to catch myself because I'm quick to say something out of frustration with the behavior/actions of others. It took me a while to realize the importance of compassion, understanding and meeting people where they are mentally. This is a great lesson to share with your kids. It may not be apparent immediately, but the seed you planted will pop up when they least expect it.
ReplyDeleteThanks CG. I was just like that when I was younger and all it did was leave me drained and filled with hopelessness not to mention it made me question my own self worth. We need to learn to encourage rather than discourage, for real.
ReplyDelete