Everyday object lessons

From a story by Bernie Siegel MD

His son came home with a picture from school and it was just a piece of paper with WORDS written all over the front over and over. As he looked at it, it became words or swords and he realized words can be swords. Words have life or death in them.

WORDSWORDSWORDSWORDSWORDSWORDSWORDSWORDS

Source: Rabbi Nachum Braverman as heard on the Toni Grant radio show
This lesson can be tailored to be for the subject of parenting, or for the subject of the marriage relationship and accepting our mate, the way he/she is. You need a ball of play dough or soft clay and either a small plant or flower or seeds. Show how its possible to fashion any object or shape from the clay, but with the flower the only thing you have power to do is to help the flower be healthy and vibrant, or wilted and dying. You cannot shape it into some other object.

The lesson in this is that we have the power and opportunity to help our children or spouse or the relationship be the best it can by our love, example, service, & attention. But it is fruitless and even damaging to try to mold the flower into something different. Force is not the Lord’s plan. Providing the best circumstances for blooming is the Lord’s plan.

Many parents are hard pressed to explain to their youth why some music, movies, books, and magazines are not acceptable material for them to bring into the home or to listen to or see. One parent came up with an original idea that is hard to refute. The father listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie. It had their favorite actors. Everyone else was seeing it. Even church members said it was great. It was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex–they never really showed it. The language was pretty good–the Lord’s name was only used in vain three times in the whole movie.

The teens did admit there was a scene where a building and a bunch of people were blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff. It wasn’t too bad. And, even if there were a few minor things, the special effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed.

However, even with all the justifications the teens made for the 13′ rating, the father still wouldn’t give in. He didn’t even give his children a satisfactory explanation for saying, “No.” He just said, “No!”

A little later on that evening the father asked his teens if they would like some brownies he had baked. He explained that he’d taken the family’s favorite recipe and added a little something new. The children asked what it was.

The father calmly replied that he had added dog poop. However, he quickly assured them, it was only a little bit. All other ingredients were gourmet quality and he had taken great care to bake the brownies at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb.

Even with their father’s promise that the brownies were of almost perfect quality, the teens would not take any. The father acted surprised. After all, it was only one small part that was causing them to be so stubborn. He was certain they would hardly notice it. Still the teens held firm and would not try the brownies.

The father then told his children how the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies. Our minds are us into believing that just a little bit of evil won’t matter. But, the truth is even a little bit of poop makes the difference between a great treat and something disgusting and totally unacceptable.

The father went on to explain that even though the movie industry would have us believe that most of today’s movies are acceptable fare for adults and youth, they are not.

Now, when this father’s children want to see something that is of questionable material, the father merely asks them if they would like some of his special dog poop brownies. That closes the subject.

Source: From a book by Robert Folgrum
Gather a small mirror and a bright flashlight. Turn the light off in the room. Have one person hold the flashlight up and shine it down on the mirror. (You’ll have to experiment to find the best way to do this) The person with the mirror’s task is to see if they can reflect the light into the darkest corner of the room. Let two or three people try this and see if they can light up a dark corner.

The story that goes with this would be that Christ or God represents the flashlight, and we are the mirror. The light or the power to bring light to the dark places does not originate with the mirror, it only reflects it into many different places.

That is our mission, our meaning in life, to reflect God’s light, or love into all of the dark places that we can.

Expound on this message in whatever way fits best and of course there are skads of scriptures that would be appropriate.

Here is an object lesson I heard at education week.

Tonight for family home evening we are making milk shakes.
Get out a blender, fill with ice cream, milk, chocolate sauce or strawberries. Blend up. Then go to the window sill and take a dead fly (that you have planted there) and say, “oh, a dead fly. That would make this good.” Put the fly in the blender and blend again. Then pour a glass and hand to your teenager. When they refuse it. Say “Why, it’s only one tiny fly, it’s can’t hurt anything. All the other things are so good” etc.

So many times we are told we should go see a movie or other forms of entertainment. We ask if it is good. Oh, there’s only one little bad part. You can close your eyes for that. The rest is so good.

Source: Bob Wleszewsli
This is is story taken from the Focus on the Family Plugged In magazine.
It is a struggle to keep our family’s movie viewing habits free of pornography and graphic violence. “The hardest part in this struggle for some parents is saying no when other parents are saying yes. Perhaps this will help. Suppose you pulled up to the drive-thru window of your favorite fast food restaurant and there was a sign that said, Serving E. coli contaminated beef today. Would you order? Of course not. What if ten cars in front of you all got hot burgers? Would it make a difference? You’d quickly hit the gas pedal and head elsewhere. Why should it be any different if it’s E coli entertainment? Yet adults continue to take their children out for toxic nibbles of what Hollywood is eager to serve.”

Source – Lynn G. Robbins
Satan is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. (3Ne. 11: 29). The verb stir sounds like a recipe for disaster: Put tempers on medium heat, stir in a few choice words, and bring to a boil; continue stirring until thick; cool off; let feelings chill for several days; serve cold; lots of leftovers.

By Dr. James Dobson
Why do we have to choose between the virtues of quantity versus quality? We won’t accept that forced choice in any other area of our lives. So why is it only relevant to our children?

Let me illustrate my point. Let’s suppose you’ve looked forward all day to eating at one of the finest restaurants in town. The waiter brings you a menu, and you order the most expensive steak in the house. But when the meal arrives, you see a tiny piece of meat about one-inch square in the center of the plate. When you complain about the size of the steak, the waiter says, “Sir, I recognize that the portion is small, but that’s the finest corn-fed beef money can buy. You’ll never find a better bite of meat than we’ve served you tonight. As to the portion, I hope you understand that it’s not the quantity that matters, it’s the quality that counts.”

You would object, and for good reason. Why? Because both quality and quantity are important in many areas of our lives, including how we relate to children. They need our time and the best we have to give them.

My concern is that the quantity-versus-quality argument might be a poorly disguised rationalization for giving our children — neither.