Back to the Playground †Theology Essay

Back to the Playground – Theology Essay Free Online Research Papers Back to the Playground Theology Essay I’m spending a lot more time at playgrounds lately. My grandchildren are coniseurs of playgrounds. When they come to visit, I usually ask them what they want to do. Invariably, they excitedly sing out, â€Å"Let’s go to the park!† Park to them means a playground. They can’t conceive of a park without a playground. I’ve learned some valuable lessons at the playground. On our last trip to a playground, two of my grandchildren came along. They had just put clean clothes on and it had rained during the night. So I was a little apprehensive about the puddles of water on the playground. It wasn’t long before I spotted Kaitlyn on the playground digging through the rocks and mud. Just before I was about to scold her for getting her clothes dirty, she came running toward me with an outstretched arm and a smile on her face. When she got to me she handed me a little heart-shaped rock and said, â€Å"Here PaPa! Here is a heart for you – just because I love you! Keep it!† With tears in my eyes, I thanked her. Did I scold her for getting her clothes muddy? What do you think? No way! And, yes, I still have that little heart-shaped rock given to me by my four-year-old granddaughter. It is one of the best gifts that I have ever received. I realized that many times we miss out on so much when we sweat the small stuff. We need to spend a lot more time at the playground. Jesus said, â€Å"Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven† (Matthew 18:3-4). What are some things we can learn on the playground to help us live simple, stress free lives? First – SIMPLICITY enables us to relax and have peace. Jesus revealed that those who live in humility as a little child are the greatest in the kingdom of God. Children enjoy the simple things in life. We often take things too seriously. Prolonged seriousness will kill. It will kill your joy and, worse, it will kill your child-likeness. As adults, we tend to make things too complicated. When David was a shepherd boy, he dared to believe with childlike faith that God would deliver the giant Goliath into his hands. He spurned all of the body armor and weapons that King Saul gave him. Instead, he met the giant on the battlefield with his simple sling and five smooth stones. He figured it was simple – the giant was so big he couldn’t miss! Who won? That’s simple – God plus one is always the majority. (See I Samuel 17.) Second – SING. Sing a silly song sometimes. Children love to sing. The Bible says, â€Å"A merry heart doeth good like medicine† (Proverbs 17:2). (See Proverbs 15:13 and Ephesians 5:18-19.) Have you lost your song? Ask God to give you a new song to sing. (See Psalm 98:1.) Third – STAY LOOSE. Children are not normally uptight and worried about life. Ask yourself, â€Å"Will this matter a year from now?† I picked up a great little book the other day that had an intriguing title – Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and it’s all small stuff by Richard Carlson PhD. It is Dr Carlson’s premise that whenever we’re dealing with bad news or troublesome situations, most of us get into certain habits, ways of reacting to life that don’t serve us very well. We overreact, tend to blow things out of proportion, hold on too tightly, and focus on the negative. We live our life as if it was one huge emergency! Stay loose – don’t sweat the small stuff. (See Matthew 6:25-34.) Fourth – SHARE. Children usually love to share. Giving is fun and it doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate. Have you ever seen the delight of two children sharing an ice cream cone or simply jumping through mud puddles or dancing in the rain? I saw a wonderful bumper sticker not too long ago. It said, â€Å"Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty†. Practicing random or spontaneous acts of kindness is an effective way to get in touch with the joy of giving without expecting anything in return. It’s even more rewarding when you don’t let anyone know what you are doing. Remember that Jesus said, â€Å"It is more blessed to give than to receive†. Also, why not take time each day and think of someone to thank? Fifth – SPRITIUAL VITALITY brings everlasting and abundant life. Children are naturally attuned to the spiritual. Only as people grow older do they become hardened and insensitive to the spiritual. That’s why we need to go back to the playground and become as little children. Jesus warns us, â€Å"I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven† (Matthew 18:3 NLT). Perhaps you need to sing that old children’s song again, â€Å"Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves. Yes, Jesus loves me.† Do you need to go back to the playground of childlike simplicity and humility? In childlike faith ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. â€Å"For as many as received Him gave He power to become children of God even those who believed on His name† (John 1:12). 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Educational Opportunities in the Everyday

Educational Opportunities in the Everyday Learning opportunities surround us every day, but we may miss them because the tasks seem so mundane. As you go about your daily activities, look for opportunities to capitalize on the educational moments in your everyday life. Grocery Shopping   It’s become something of a humorous homeschool stereotype that homeschooling families can turn a trip to the grocery store into a field trip, but the fact is there are many educational opportunities your kids can experience in the grocery store. You can: Learn to read a scale by weighing producePractice estimation and rounding by keeping a mental tally of the amount you’re spendingDiscuss a variety of measurements such as bushel, pounds, gallons, and pints.Practice percentages by figuring sale pricesLearn how to do comparison shopping using unit pricesDiscuss healthy eating habits Used Car Shopping The experience of purchasing a pre-owned car, while a  bit outside the ordinary, is an excellent opportunity for  real-life training skills. Some of the skills you can work on include: Learning what to look for in a used car, such as dependable reputation, safety, gas mileage, and vehicle historyHow to comparison shop and use tools such as Consumer Reports and Kelley Blue Book to gauge value and dependabilityHow interest rates and the age of the car affect the price - for example, we were better off purchasing a newer car through our credit union at just over 2% interest. Cars older than 10 years only qualified for a signature loan and those rates were 10% and higher.How to figure taxes on automobilesConsidering the cost of insurance when purchasing a car  - newer cars and sports cars will mean higher monthly premiumsLearning what’s involved in registering and titling a car Doctor and Dental Appointments If you’ve got to take time out of your busy schedule for appointments, you might as well make them educational. You might learn about: Preventative measures for disease controlProper oral and personal hygieneWhy doctors check your blood pressure and how it affects your overall healthHow dentists screen for diseases like oral cancerWhat causes cavities, illness, or infectionWhat is involved in becoming a doctor, dentist, nurse, or dental hygienist Ask questions  - especially if you’re at the dentist; it will give your dental hygienist something to talk about, rather than asking you questions that you can’t answer because her hands are in your mouth. Cooking Home ec is one subject that you never really have to go out of your way to teach. You may just need to be a bit more intentional about bringing your kids into the kitchen with you to help you prepare meals. As you do so, talk with them about: Food prep and safetyMeasurements such as cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons, along with common conversions for increasing or decreasing the number of servings in a recipeFollowing directions on a recipeHow to properly use cooking utensilsVarious cooking techniques such as baking, broiling, sautà ©ing and simmering You might want to include some specific recipes as you teach your kids about food, such as biscuits, cookies, a few family favorite main dishes and sides, and some desserts, but all of this can be accomplished in the regular day-to-day of your life. Random Educational Moments Don’t miss the random educational opportunities all around you. Look for opportunities to use daily activities that we may take for granted to put to practical use the abstract concepts your kids are learning in school. For example, say youve been getting price quotes to have a concrete pad poured (so youll have a place to park that used car you bought). Youll be able to talk about area and perimeter in concrete terms (pun intended!). You can also use real-world math to figure up how many bags of concrete needed and what the cost would be to do yourselves, along with comparing the cost, in both time and money, to hire someone to do the job. Use sales and dinners out (tipping your server)  to teach your kids simple ways to  quickly calculate  percentages in their heads. Ask your young children to choose a color and count all the cars of that color that they see as you’re driving down the road. Encourage your older kids to tally the variety of colors they see and create a graph to see which color is more popular. Learning opportunities are all around us if we just look for moments to capitalize on the educational in the everyday.