This post could easily be a part of a larger article called "Dr. Seuss for Grown-Ups". As a big fan of Dr. Seuss (as most teachers are), I see a lot of life lessons in his works. As a Christian, I see everything through that world view. So let me explain five valuable lessons, I see in Bartholomew and the Oobleck; why I used it every year at Thanksgiving time to teach "theme" or main idea to my 1st through 4th grade students; and why the story means so much to me.
Bartholomew and the Oobleck begins with Bartholomew a young page boy listening to Old King Derwin of Didd tell him how bored he is with the sun, the rain, the fog and the snow. He really hates all the things that come out of the sky. He is determined to get something new no matter how much the page boy tries to tell him otherwise. The king says he will get something different and no one can tell a king what he can and can't do. Bartholomew is the essence of common sense reasoning though he is not even a teen and the king is the essence of arrogance and self-will. Bartholomew says that even kings cannot rule the sky.
The king beckons the wicked magicians and they are determined to make something new to come out of the sky. They name it "Oobleck". It turns out that Oobleck is green, sticky, globby and is growing larger by the moment. It gets larger and larger and everyone who touches it gets stuck to this insidious stuff. At first the king is delighted and wants to have a holiday in its honor. Soon it is apparent that the whole kingdom will be ruined and everyone eventually will be destroyed by its all pervasive presence .
Bartholomew is running around trying to warn the people when he remembers the king and eventually finds him stuck to his royal throne in mounds of Oobleck. King Derwin is trying to remember the magic words to get him and his people out of the royal mess that he created. What can be done about Oobleck?
King Derwin is me, you and Lady Eve and Oobleck is sin. Here is Lesson Number One. In our pride, we want something more or something better than what God has given to us. The result of being ungrateful is Sin with a capital S. Lesson Two is that when we are ungrateful, we are can lose the things that really matter.
When Bartholomew enters the throne room and sees the king covered in Oobleck, he talks to him like no one ever spoke to him before. Bartholomew represents to me the Wisdom of God's Word. He tells the the king to stop looking for magic words and start saying a few simple words like "I am sorry" and "It's all my fault". Here is Lesson Number Three: when you are wrong, say you are sorry and not just say it but mean it. (Christians call it repentance.) At least say you are sorry, even if the solution is not in sight.
It was as though God heard him and the Oobleck (ie, sin) went away. The lovely sun came out and the former things were restored. Then, King declared a national holiday in honor of the four perfect things from the sky: the things that God created in the beginning. Lesson Number Four is be thankful and appreciate what God has given you.
Lesson Number Five is a combination of the other four lessons. A lack of gratitude is a sin that leads to many other sins. It is a result of pride. It leads to horrible life messes and repentance is the only way out. Our loving God leads us out to repentance. A truly repentant person is full of gratitude!
Read Bartholomew and the Oobleck and see if you do not agree that it has a lot to do with Thanksgiving. More importantly, read God's Word. Let's be truly thankful or we may lose the things that we have. Have a meaningful Thanksgiving Day and let being grateful be a way of life.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
Joy in the Genuine
I asked our 24 year-old son if he thought a girl without make-up could be beautiful and he said, "No!" This made me sad to think that he did not understand the principle of quality and had chosen to dwell in the superficial.
This is the same boy, who when he was about 2, was confronted by a clown in a park with bold face make up displaying a big red smile, a ball for a nose and big painted on happy eyes. When he saw the clown, he cried and screamed and hid him face in my clothes. He was terrified and from then on hated and feared clowns.
His dad wanted to rent a Barney (the green dinosaur) costume for a children's event to delight his son, since Barney was his favorite TV show at the time. When his father put the dinosaur head piece on in the costume shop, our son, again, cried and screamed. The trial run save us quite a bit of money and put an end to that brilliant idea.
He never liked stuffed animal heads either. They scared him. He never wanted to go into a room where a taxidermist had created something, though he dearly loved animals.
His strong natural sense of preferring the real, the living, the genuine and disdaining the fake was alive and well. I understood where he was coming from.
The images of the world's media definitely go for perfection and the superficial. How could you really think that a made-up image was more beautiful than the real thing? I appreciated his honesty, but I do hope that will gain a different perspective as he matures.
When he meets the girl of his dreams, I hope that she will be so beautiful to him on the inside that the outside will be almost insignificant. I hope that he will learn that superficiality may make a promise that it cannot deliver and that the superficial appears to be something that it is really not.
Okay, I am not a guy, but this blog is about joy. I hope my son will learn to find joy in sincerity and truth. I hope he will grow to find joy in the genuine, "real deal".
This is the same boy, who when he was about 2, was confronted by a clown in a park with bold face make up displaying a big red smile, a ball for a nose and big painted on happy eyes. When he saw the clown, he cried and screamed and hid him face in my clothes. He was terrified and from then on hated and feared clowns.
His dad wanted to rent a Barney (the green dinosaur) costume for a children's event to delight his son, since Barney was his favorite TV show at the time. When his father put the dinosaur head piece on in the costume shop, our son, again, cried and screamed. The trial run save us quite a bit of money and put an end to that brilliant idea.
He never liked stuffed animal heads either. They scared him. He never wanted to go into a room where a taxidermist had created something, though he dearly loved animals.
His strong natural sense of preferring the real, the living, the genuine and disdaining the fake was alive and well. I understood where he was coming from.
The images of the world's media definitely go for perfection and the superficial. How could you really think that a made-up image was more beautiful than the real thing? I appreciated his honesty, but I do hope that will gain a different perspective as he matures.
When he meets the girl of his dreams, I hope that she will be so beautiful to him on the inside that the outside will be almost insignificant. I hope that he will learn that superficiality may make a promise that it cannot deliver and that the superficial appears to be something that it is really not.
Okay, I am not a guy, but this blog is about joy. I hope my son will learn to find joy in sincerity and truth. I hope he will grow to find joy in the genuine, "real deal".
What is a W-O-M-B?
I always asked a lot of questions. I was such an intense little girl. My mother hated it when I asked too many questions. She felt like I was putting her "on the spot" or cross-examining her. My dad loved my questions. However, when I was looking for a 30 second answer to a math problem, he wanted to give me the 30 minute or 3 hour version. He wanted to make sure that I really understood all the details and history of the question and not just be given the answer. I guess I liked to ask questions more than I liked to listen to lengthy answers. The court room model suited my attorney cross-examination style just fine.
I cannot say that my husband and son like my questions either. They feel like I am probing when I am just trying to understand. Love is a lot about listening I have come to understand.
When I was a young girl more than 50 years ago, I was reading the Bible out loud to myself. I loved to read orally. My mother and father were in the other room and not paying attention to me. I was reading Luke 1:31. God was telling Mary that she would conceive in her womb.
"Mommy, what is a W-O-M-B?" I said.
"Where did you see that? What are you reading?" my shocked and flustered mother said.
I felt like I had done something awful. When I said that I was reading the Bible, she tried to regain her composure and gave me an answer. I learned that some questions evoked some very powerful emotions and were upsetting to people. Some subjects were taboo.
Did she think I said "B-O-M-B"?
Times have certainly changed since this happened. Today's little children know many words and ideas that I still do not know about or understand. Today's child still asks a lot of questions that give us the most incredible "teachable moments".
Questions are probably one of the most powerful teaching tools. They reflect the desire and need to know. They reflect the thoughts of the mind and passion of the heart. Information is so much easier to receive when it is asked for. When a child is asking for a dialogue, a lecture does not work. Sometimes the best answer is another question. A question may be the answer.
Pay attention to questions that you are asking and that others are asking. The questions may tell us more than the answers. Questions show motivation and may create a an opening to the window of the mind.
When I asked my W-O-M-B question a long time ago, I could have learned about God's miracle of Christ's conception instead of what not to ask.
I cannot say that my husband and son like my questions either. They feel like I am probing when I am just trying to understand. Love is a lot about listening I have come to understand.
When I was a young girl more than 50 years ago, I was reading the Bible out loud to myself. I loved to read orally. My mother and father were in the other room and not paying attention to me. I was reading Luke 1:31. God was telling Mary that she would conceive in her womb.
"Mommy, what is a W-O-M-B?" I said.
"Where did you see that? What are you reading?" my shocked and flustered mother said.
I felt like I had done something awful. When I said that I was reading the Bible, she tried to regain her composure and gave me an answer. I learned that some questions evoked some very powerful emotions and were upsetting to people. Some subjects were taboo.
Did she think I said "B-O-M-B"?
Times have certainly changed since this happened. Today's little children know many words and ideas that I still do not know about or understand. Today's child still asks a lot of questions that give us the most incredible "teachable moments".
Questions are probably one of the most powerful teaching tools. They reflect the desire and need to know. They reflect the thoughts of the mind and passion of the heart. Information is so much easier to receive when it is asked for. When a child is asking for a dialogue, a lecture does not work. Sometimes the best answer is another question. A question may be the answer.
Pay attention to questions that you are asking and that others are asking. The questions may tell us more than the answers. Questions show motivation and may create a an opening to the window of the mind.
When I asked my W-O-M-B question a long time ago, I could have learned about God's miracle of Christ's conception instead of what not to ask.
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