Last Lessons #61 - CHILDHOOD

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”   Proverbs 22:6

When I was a child, my family was financially poor.  Remember, I was born in 1929 – the year of the great depression.  Nobody had much money.  My father worked hard five and a half days a week (that was then!) at a job and my mother took care of us six children.  We had one car.  Our family had very little money, but we were rich in many other ways.  My parents were honest, hard-working, loving parents who made sure that we children knew who God was, who told us repeatedly that we were put on this earth not to make money or to make ourselves happy, but to make the world a better place.  Making the world better might not make money for us, but it would make us happy.  As far as I am concerned, that was true. 

So, what life lessons did God teach me as a child?

1. He taught me to share.  With six children, and not too much to go around, we learned to share.  There were never any leftovers.  We lived on the St. Johns River where we fished, shrimped, and gathered oysters.  We also had a citrus grove with oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons, kumquats, and limequats.  Furthermore, we had chickens and a cow, so we never went hungry, but neither did we waste food! I feel sorry for only children today because they are not forced to share. 
2. He taught me right from wrong.  Because growing up we did not have cell phones or TV, my parents spent more time with us children teaching us right from wrong.  Most importantly they taught us that we don’t hit, we don’t steal, and we don’t lie.  I will never forget the time I took something (I can’t even remember what it was now) and all of us children were asked who took it.  No one admitted to the theft, but it wasn’t long before my conscience was pricked to the point that I went into the room where daddy was alone and admitted that I had lied.  He was so like my heavenly Father because he took me on his lap and said, “I just don’t want my little girl to lie.”  I needed no punishment.  Displeasing my father was worse than any punishment.  That has never left me.  I’m sure I have lied many times in my life since, but never without a sense of guilt of displeasing my Father and with a desire to confess. I feel sorry for children who do not have parents who teach them right from wrong. 
3. He taught me to be creative.  Having little money, we had few toys.  When we wanted something to do our parents would say, “Go out and play!”  So, we would go out and climb trees, or swim in the river, or make a treehouse, or make a bow and arrow.  Yes, I was a tomboy, so I would cut a piece of bamboo and get some string to make a bow and cut a stick for an arrow.  Having to visualize something I wanted to make taught me how to visualize things (even organizations!) I would make later in life. I feel sorry for children who have everything and who have parents who plan everything they do.  They never have to create their own play.  They never have to imagine, visualize, and think about how to find enjoyment without pre-planned outside entertainment.

LIFE LESSONS

1. Learn to share and teach your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to share.  Give something to someone every day – money, things, advice, and most importantly the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Learn right from wrong and teach your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren right and wrong.  There is only one place where you can learn right and wrong and that is in the Bible.  Make sure you are in a Bible-teaching church.  Go to a Bible study group.  Sadly, many of our schools and colleges today do not teach right and wrong.  Many of our political leaders don’t even know the difference between right and wrong.  They lie and steal with impunity.  But you can know right and wrong by paying close attention to what the Bible says. 
3. Learn to think and teach your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to think.  Thinking makes you creative.  Think about what you need, what others need, and what the world needs.  Then go out and figure out a way to do something about meeting those needs.

Then the world will be a better place because of you!