My daily routine generally begins around 6:00 am, give or take, with brewing up a pot of World Market French Roast, washing my face with cold water, brushing my teeth and turning on my computer. After my coffee brews, takes about 10 minutes, I sit down to check out the latest sports scores, gotta keep up with the boys back in Texas, and looking at what great tragedies have occurred in the world while I slept. Most of it I just ignore because the whole political thing is sadly sickening and I really have no interest in the latest news about Lindsay Lohan and the Kardashians.
One thing that grabbed my attention this morning was a video of an older female school bus monitor being bullied by a group of middle school students on the ride home from school. Then a morning news show played a portion of the video and interviewed the poor woman who was driven to tears by the relentless and very personal assault of a small group of foul-mouthed, mean-spirited, ignorant kids.
Hearing these not-so-innocent young people, took me back to when I was a stupid kid, experimenting with some similar peer bonding, and the reaction of my Mom. Her swift, decisive action with a bar of ivory soap and her long fingers, coupled with her calm but very firm warning, made an indelible impression. I can still taste that soap in my mouth. Years later, my son, received the same corrective measure from his own Mom and even though he was too young to actually understand the meaning and effect of his words, he received a lesson of love that made the same impression on him that it did on me
Many years ago I happened to be in a position in a local high school to overhear a conversation between two young teenage girls. One girl made a harsh comment to the other and called her a FOOL. She kept on repeating, "Shut up fool!" After several minutes I had the opportunity to speak to that girl somewhat in private and I asked, "How you ever read in the Bible what Jesus said about calling someone a fool?" She looked at me somewhat surprised and said, "Jesus never said anything about that", to which I replied, "Oh he surely did. It's in your Bible at Matthew 5:22. I want you to go home today and read it, then come back and tell me what you think." Three days later I saw her again and she said, "Thank you for telling me about that. I will never call anyone a fool again."
"I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother 'RACA' (worthless) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But, anyone who says, 'YOU FOOL', will be in danger of the fire of hell."
I truly hate Satan for what he does in the minds/hearts of innocent children who learn to reproduce the very worst they see and hear at home and in human society. Some of us are fortunate to have someone in our life who truly cares about who we are and what we become. Satan only wants to drag every one of us into a dark place where he makes all the rules that promises what he cannot deliver.
I pray for the parents and grandparents of each of those young people in the video because if I were in their shoes, restraining my anger at them would be impossible. I pray for those young people that somehow they can hear the words of Jesus and realize that bullying an innocent person for absolutely no reason is an action that will not go unpunished. Jesus promises that and every young person needs to hear it from HIM.
No comments:
Post a Comment