Thursday; June 13

          I was reviewing some quotes by Benjamin Franklin when I came across one that I didn’t know was attributed to him.  According to the world wide web Franklin is quoted as saying, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”.  On first blush I would be more apt to attribute this quote to someone like Horace Mann, but I will take it on face value and give credit to Benjamin Franklin. 
No matter who is credited with the insight, it is amazing how true it is.  When we seek to influence people we must keep in mind that just because we tell someone something, they may or may not listen to it much less grasp it.  When we develop a way to teach something to someone there is a better chance that they will absorb it, but it isn’t until we pass on the skill through personal intervention that we can have confidence that it will take root.
While is adage can have applications in a variety of ways, the most important may be in our relationship with our children.  It is awful tempting to expect our children to listen to us because we are their parents and learn our lessons because of our experience, but the best way to ensure the lesson will stick is to work with them as we walk with them.  In the beginning of the nation of Israel, the Jews were instructed, “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-21).
What are we teaching our children?  How are we teaching our children?  Our message and our modes can help our youth to become the people they can be.
         Think About It!

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