Faith and I spend most of our time these days caring for, teaching, and chasing after our seven month old little girl. Of the many things she now seems to enjoy doing, one of them is sitting with us while we read to her. While I’m no expert in child development, I know enough to know that reading to children is always a good thing, whether they actually comprehend anything or not.
The books Faith reads to her are probably more age-appropriate in that the pictures are big and bright and the sentences are short and simple. An example is “Yellow duck, yellow duck, what do you see?” I, on the other hand, opt for books I liked when I was a kid, such as ones by Dr. Seuss.
The other night, as I was in the throes of reciting “I will not eat them, Sam-I-Am,” it occurred to me that beyond the rhymes, there was a lot more to be found in the works of Theodor Geisel than just green eggs and ham.
Found in his writings along with Zaxes, Loraxes and Star-Belly Sneetches are such profound statements as these:
Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
Fun is good.
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant.
Although they are all rich with meaning, the last two stand out for the sheer fact that in our communication with one another today, most people simply do not “say what they feel” or “say what they mean” anymore. Rather, in most of our conversations today, there’s a dance that takes place, using words as melody. Politicians and people in the news media long ago mastered this art called “spin”—saying something in such a way that it makes the listener think it’s the absolute truth, no matter what the facts are. But today, it seems everyone’s an artist!
Worse still is the fact that on the rare occasions someone doesn’t spin and actually does say what they honestly feel or mean, they are looked upon as though they have just made a terrorist attack on Whoville.
Frankly, I don’t think Dr. Seuss saw this coming.
But Jesus did. Which is why in Matthew’s gospel, he said this: “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (5:37). This, of course, was Jesus’ way of teaching us that truth and honesty in our conversations with one another matter.
Hopefully, along with how to count red fish and blue fish, this is one lesson that Faith and I will teach our little girl well.
No comments:
Post a Comment