I'm not even going to bother looking it up right now because I know I'll find it soon anyway, but after reading a blog, I feel the need to write about training children. I'm thinking it's Proverbs 17:17 or 24. I'll look later.
"Just starting to discover who I am instead of who I was told I had to be." I just read this comment on someone's blog, and that fast it got me thinking about how we are told you have to be such-and-such when you grow up. Right? WRONG! (There was more to the comment's meaning than just that, but these are my thoughts from that part of the paragraph.) I can't be a butcher just because my dad was. (Not that he was; I'm just using that as an example.) Me personally, I get sick very easily, and the thought of killing something and ripping it up just makes me so sad. Or, how about this? My dad's a ... (trying to come up with an idea) carpenter. He knows that's not where my talents lie. So he tells me, you're going to be a kindergarten teacher. My response? GAH!!!!!!! I love kids, but I do not want to teach the little ones. I'll be doing good to work with my kids, if we can ever have any, when they are there as it is.
The Bible says to "train up a child in the way he should go" so that "when he is old he will not depart from it". A lot of people think this verse is talking about discipline. Maybe. But on the whole, I really disagree.
I believe it is more talking about the vocation. I don't have much to back me up because it's been so long since I talked about it in depth with my dad. However, I will state what I think and probably come back and add to it later.
When a child is born in a Jewish home, they wait to name the child until after he or she starts showing character traits that are easily recognizable. It may be a couple of years before they name the child. Instead of the child growing into the name (i.e., Christopher Columbus or myself taking the meaning of our names and trying to be like that), the name is chosen for the qualities shown naturally. For instance, a little girl comes home from school and starts playing school as the teacher. Maybe she will be a teacher someday. But you watch her grow up. She is good with kids and helping others learn. Those are bigger indications that she may well be great as a teacher. But, on the other side, if no one ever tells her that she has those talents and skills, she may well think they are worthless and go searching elsewhere for something to be good at and feel good about. On the personality side, you may have a child who is extra quiet and tries very hard to be wise. The child will be named something that fits those personality traits.
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It is now very late, and I am very tired. But I have tried to finish my thoughts the best I can. I may come back and revise this post, but then again, I may be lazy and not come back. You never know.
~ Rose Stitch
(Started Sat, Sep 17, 2011)
0148 Wed, Sep 21, 2011
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