Learning About Meekness by “The Kids”
01.23.10
This month we are learning about meekness, a character trait that is so vital yet seems to be overlooked a lot. We focus on serving, hospitality, wisdom, and other “common” character traits as Christians, but somehow meekness doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
So as a family we learned about meekness. It is described not as quiet or shy, but meekness is “yielding our personal rights and expectations to God”. Here are a few personal stories we wrote.
“One time I gave up my time. Instead of playing chess with my brother, my sister told me we had to grind flour. Even though I did not like to grind the flour, I still did it and it took a long time. My time was up for playing chess, so I had to wait until another day. Then my mom said she was grateful for my hard work. Then I felt happy that I gave up chess. Now I like to grind flour and eat the fresh bread.”
“When I let Sarah borrow my blanket, we were at a hotel in Virginia. We remembered almost everything for our trip, but we forgot Sarah’s blanket. So I let her borrow my blanket for a few nights because my mom told me to. I learned that it is not easy to yield what you want and it seems easier to give up things you want to give up. Yielding is hard but it is worth it. Sarah slept happy every nights.”
“Once I had to yield my rights to do what I wanted to do. I had to come inside with my friend when it was really cold and windy. He said he wanted to go inside. That meant that I had to go inside too. It did not feel good at first when I yielded THAT thing because I liked playing outside and I like the cold. I learned that yielding to others that are older than you is good because it makes them happy that you show respect to them by yielding.”
“There are missionaries in our church named the Garretts. They live in Africa. They are showing us that they are willing to yield their rights to comfy beds and things in a home we like to have. They already gave up a lot to live in Africa, but now they are building a hut to live in a village. The hut will help them get to know people better and to love them better. It will probably be hard at first to yield a comfy bed, but they will be so joyful to love more people in Africa. It will be worth it.”
“Moses was a great leader. He wasn’t angry or bossy. He didn’t think that he as very good for the job God wanted him to do. He yielded HIS ideas and HIS plans, and he followed God’s plans. That worked out pretty well for him although he ended up in the dessert. He was a great leader and listened to God and did what God asked.”
This week think about times you have yielded your personal rights and expectations to God in the past. Remember the things that God taught you from that and look forward to a time when you can yield again. Because you KNOW God will teach you great things!
(and here’s to spell checker for all those times I spell “yield” wrong!)
we (me definately included) could say “thank God for spell check)- my thought on your topic.
Many times during my work day, I have to yield want I would like to do with the agents(mostly motivation to list and sell more homes) to what I need to do with them which recently has been uncomfortable and intense discussions as to why staying with our company instead of yielding to the pressures from our competitors to go to them is the better choice.
We often choose the ‘more fun” task but when we do yield to the greater challenge or more difficult choice in the end (even if not successful) we feel better about ourselves.
love you all
I work in a profession where many people make a LOT of money. (Sometimes they don’t seem at all satisfied!) God has taught me to yield my expectations about income and money to Him. His Word says that HE is in charge of my income anyhow. When I was preparing to go on the 2004 mission trip to Peru with the Barn, I was worried about all the “lost” business and money that 2 weeks away could cause. Before we left on that trip, my business instead had enough “work” to completely cover the “lost” time!! When we arrived at our mission location (at 11,700 feet above sea level) I got severe altitude sickness for a day. Somehow, because I had yielded my expectations to God before the trip, I almost completely forgot the “sick day” after it was over! I like Psalm 37:25 which says, “I have been young, and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his descendants begging bread.”
By the way, ask Jacob to finish the verse, “Blessed are the meek…” (I’d say that’s a pretty good reward for meekness!)