Hippiemommy

Category: How Would Jesus Raise a Child – Whitehurst

  • I first started How Would Jesus Raise a Child back in 2004. Its been a long time. I’m about to go into year 3 with this book, and its only 200 pages long, lol. Sad.

    Its not that the book isn’t good. I really enjoy it. I just seem to get on tangents where I read other stuff instead. I can’t really explain it.

    I just finished chapter 7, and I wanted to talk about some of the concepts in there. Mind if I share? I’m going to share.

    OK, so think of all of the times that the disciples were dense. They didn’t get what Jesus was saying. He’d have to say it over and over. Even the Samaritan woman at the well caught on faster than they did. The disciples were still trying to figure out if someone had brought Jesus some food after the Samaritan woman left. Dr. Whitehurst says,

    …they just couldn’t converse with him at his level. This didn’t mean they weren’t bright; it meant only that they didn’t know how to translate his metaphorical language.

    Still, it must have occasioned more than a few sighs on Jesus’ part. As parents, we can’t be blamed for getting exasperated at times. Children often half listen or, within minutes, forget what we tell them. This is where we can learn from Jesus. When a follower didn’t get his message one way, Jesus didn’t keep hammering him with that same parable over and over again until he understood; rather he changed the form of his message and used it when they next “teachable moment” arose.

    Jesus’ ability to change the form of his message can be seen, for example, in the many ways he tried to teach the concept of servant leadership. In the Sermon on the Mount, he taught that God values the meek and the peacemakers. When later his disciples were arguing over who would get top billing in the kingdom, Jesus didn’t shout, “When will you get this through your heads? I told you, the meek will inherit the earth!”

    Instead, he gathered all of them together (not just the offenders) to discuss the issue in broader terms, describing the kind of behavior, or service, that would make them true leaders.

    I sat and thought about this for a while. I think I need to keep this in mind and work on this concept. I am usually pretty good at being creative when it comes to ways of teaching, but it is easy to wonder if I’m talking to myself sometimes, lol. As a matter of fact, when I first started reading this passage, I was thinking about how I sometimes space out when dh is talking to me! Its terrible! I really need to be more understanding with my kids… after all, they are working with my DNA here.
    So, piggybacking on that idea, she talks about how we need to give our kids permission to try again after they fail

    Jesus predicted failure to inoculate his disciples against disagreement and self-blame when they failed or encountered obstacles… After failures did occur, Jesus didn’t berate his disciples nor did he give up on them. After Peter’s three denials, Jesus didn’t say, “Well, it’s pretty obvious you haven’t got leadership potential,” or “I guess I was wrong about your commitment.”

    Jesus didn’t minimize failure, but neither did he hold on to it. Jesus interacted with people in such a way that if someone gave up on a goal or talent, it would be because he wanted to, not because he’d been made to feel so condemned about failures that he didn’t dare try again. This was Jesus’ secret: The moment the person wished to make another attempt, Jesus was happy to receive him. He continued working with his student from there, as if no failure had ever happened. He knew that Peter already felt bad enough; there was no need to rub it in.

    So these are my two points to work on for this week 🙂 I’m really enjoying this book, despite the fact that my leisurely pace might make you assume otherwise, LOL.

  • The Beatitudes

    Matthew 5

    The Beatitudes

    1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
    3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    4Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
    5Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
    6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
    7Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
    8Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
    9Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called sons of God.
    10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

    Confession time: I’ve never really gotten the Beatitudes. I mean, I understand them, but I don’t think I’ve really strived to live them. Much on the contrary, I’ve used the more to help myself feel better in bad times. For example, when I was mourning, I thought “‘Blessed are those who mourn’, so this isn’t totally a bad thing.” I did NOT think “‘Blessed are those who mourn.’ I should mourn more in my regular life!

    Right now I am reading through Dr. Teresa Whitehurst’s How Would Jesus Raise a Child, and her chapter on the Beatitudes is making me think. She says

    If you want to become more like Jesus as a person and a parent, the Beatitudes are a wise and easy place to begin.

    So then she gives some examples of the way Jesus lived the Beatitudes and the way that the world lives. She says, for example, that Jesus tells us that when you’re gentle (meek), not harsh with others, you will inherit the earth. The world’s view is “Show ’em who’s boss. You gotta be cruel to be kind.”, etc.

    OK, so I understand what she’s saying there. Like I said, I don’t think I’ve done much striving to live them, but I get her point. I’ve always thought more about the Love verses or the fruits of the Spirit, etc.

    Then she starts talking about exactly the same thing as Charlotte Mason. I discussed it in my Trains of Thought entry. She says that humans have a hard time with change and are actually immune to it. The same thing CM said! Go figure

    …it short-circuits our goals. We want to lose weight, but can’t seem to overcome our immunity to change in the area of eating habits. We want to be more patient with our toddler but our “immune system” kicks in, preventing us from trying a new, calmer method for handling fussiness.

    So now I’ve read this twice in two weeks. Maybe God is trying to tell me something 😛 She goes on to give a great example

    When I was getting used to my laptop, it took me several days to unlearn the placement of the keys on my familiar old desktop computer. Some moves were so ingrained that I actually had to cover certain keys with tape so as not to hit them accidentally, erasing my work each time! So it goes with the challenging internal changes for which Jesus promised blessings and rewards in the Beatitudes. They will require that we “tape over” certain habitual ways of thinking and behavior so that we can begin to learn and use what Jesus taught. It may feel awkward at first, but if you inhibit your usual ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving, eventually you will find that Jesus’ teachings are not impossible to incorporate in your life after all.

    I like the way that she built on the same ideas as CM. I like her example. I’ve experienced the same thing with a new keyboard, and I’ve also experienced that same difficulty when trying to change a bad habit. The fact is that you get used to the new way of life if you just stick with it.

    This also reminded me of when I first bought my new glasses. My dh is going through the same thing right now, so I can really empathize. I have progressive lenses. I have the strongest prescription at the bottom for reading, a moderate prescription for mid-distance (like the computer), and hardly any prescription at all for distance. For the first week or two, I felt terrible with these glasses. I kept getting dizzy. I was getting stabbing pains in my brain. It seemed bad. Then one day I could see and my brain had figured out which part of the glasses to look through for different activities. Now I can’t live without them!

    I think I need to apply some of these same principles in my life.

    So the last point that I wanted to discuss is her interpretation of Matthew 5:48 (“You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. This is a tough verse. We know we can’t be perfect. That’s why we need God. So what gives?

    I used to worry about this instruction. Then, after further study, I realized that Jesus didn’t say, “So be as perfect as God.” To say this would be to imply that we are on equal footing with God, with equal powers of perfection. Rather, what Jesus was urging his listeners to do was to take his teachings seriously and strive towards the ideal that God represents.

    I’m off to digest this some more. I’m sure I’ll write about it again!

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