Scripture: Proverbs 22:6
Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.
Thought for the Day: My family and I went to the Islamic Art Festival this past Sunday. It was a magnificent experience, and we all enjoyed our time at the Mosque. While I was there, among such a diverse group of people, I was reminded of our similarities in some pretty earthy ways. We were finishing a tour of the Mosque as the prayer time concluded. Among the people who left as we did were two young men, maybe 14 or 15 years old. From what they said, they were members of the Mosque and regular attenders of prayer. As one of the young men said good-bye to his friend, he smacked him on the back and said, “See you later, butt-head.” I had to chuckle as I am pretty certain that Tom Kolbe and I (friends back in church youth group in our early teen years) said good-bye using those very words. It was probably me as I had a bit of a mouth on me.
The second happening was when my son, Zach, was going to have art work painted on his hand. He was in line, one of only a few males among a number of women. The next person available to do the painting was a young girl, about 13 years old. She took one look at Zach and shook her head, NO! Donna and Zach walked away disappointed, suggesting that it must be a religious issue – that the young Muslim girl could not touch the hand of a male. Later I was talking to the young girl’s mother, and she laughed at our suggested reasoning. “Oh, no!” she explained, “My daughter is shy and was embarrassed to touch the hand of a cute boy.” At that age, I probably would have been uncomfortable in such a situation – not because of my religion – but because it’s what pubescent kids do.
Let’s remember that most all parents, of every religious stripe, are just trying to raise their kids so they will continue to walk the path of faith and love in their adult years.
Prayer: For rich beauty that is your creation, Almighty Lord, we give you thanks. Let us listen and learn and laugh. Let us not assume to know why someone does what s/he does, but to find that so much of our life experiences cross the boundaries of race, religion and age. Amen.
