My wife is teaching in the classroom of the preschool she works at. She doesn't normally do this, so she's getting help from her highly efficient team of crack professionals. This includes her 9-year old, 7-year old, 4-year old and me.
It's preschool, so all lesson plans revolve around a letter each week. Next week is F-week, so I'm encouraging my kids to think of all the F-words they can. They've only been in school a few years, so I know I'm not in any real danger. Aside from the art of passing gas, they don't really know any dirty words.
We're all sounding out words. Ffffffrogs, ffffffeathers, ffffffffairies. "Fantastic', my wife says. We name songs and objects that start with f. The ideas are really flowing. Then our 4-year old chimes in. "Fff- Fff- Fff- Chicken!"
I think two thoughts to myself. #1. What am I paying her preschool for? #2 Can't she hear herself?
I say none of this out loud, of course, but gently remind her that chickens do not, in fact, start with f. She tries again. "Fff- Fff- Fff- Cheese!" Apparently ch sounds like f to her little ears.
But she's not the only one who can't seem to hear herself. Christians do the same thing. We constantly call out 'love, love, love.' But the our actions do not show love. They show hate. So to many we sound very immature in our offerings to the world, 'Love, love, love, hate!'
When we focus more on the sin of a person and less on the person, we can't hear ourselves. When we talk about people behind their backs, we can't hear ourselves. When we'd rather look the other way than help those in need, we can't hear ourselves.
We're pretty good with our selective hearing. We pick out life verses and have great discussions about what Jesus came to do. We sing lots of songs and read lots of books. We have all sorts of ideas about how things should be done in this world, our country and our communities. But when we actually go to speak, one would think we cannot tell the difference between love and unlove, between a word that starts with ch- and one that begins with f.
Here's an f-word. Fail. It's what we do when we can't hear ourselves.
It's preschool, so all lesson plans revolve around a letter each week. Next week is F-week, so I'm encouraging my kids to think of all the F-words they can. They've only been in school a few years, so I know I'm not in any real danger. Aside from the art of passing gas, they don't really know any dirty words.
We're all sounding out words. Ffffffrogs, ffffffeathers, ffffffffairies. "Fantastic', my wife says. We name songs and objects that start with f. The ideas are really flowing. Then our 4-year old chimes in. "Fff- Fff- Fff- Chicken!"
I think two thoughts to myself. #1. What am I paying her preschool for? #2 Can't she hear herself?
I say none of this out loud, of course, but gently remind her that chickens do not, in fact, start with f. She tries again. "Fff- Fff- Fff- Cheese!" Apparently ch sounds like f to her little ears.
But she's not the only one who can't seem to hear herself. Christians do the same thing. We constantly call out 'love, love, love.' But the our actions do not show love. They show hate. So to many we sound very immature in our offerings to the world, 'Love, love, love, hate!'
When we focus more on the sin of a person and less on the person, we can't hear ourselves. When we talk about people behind their backs, we can't hear ourselves. When we'd rather look the other way than help those in need, we can't hear ourselves.
We're pretty good with our selective hearing. We pick out life verses and have great discussions about what Jesus came to do. We sing lots of songs and read lots of books. We have all sorts of ideas about how things should be done in this world, our country and our communities. But when we actually go to speak, one would think we cannot tell the difference between love and unlove, between a word that starts with ch- and one that begins with f.
Here's an f-word. Fail. It's what we do when we can't hear ourselves.
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