This story is a chapter from my soon to be self published, Rescue the Stories, Book Three, The Golden years.
Black Lab courtesy photobucket.com |
Have you ever done something
that was so embarrassing that you certainly did not want to share it with your
neighbors? I am not speaking about doing
something sinful but just something too silly to advertise! I’ll get back to that thought in just a
minute!
In the early days mothers did
not have Gerber’s and other baby foods so they utilized unique methods to
nourish their growing babies. Often it
was the grandmother who would first chew the baby’s food and then feed it to
him. As the child grew he would hopefully
learn to feed himself.
I can remember many times as
a child I did not want to eat what was put before me. Mother would often play a little game called “Airplane”
and the spoon would find its way to the “Airport.”
The bottom line was that moms did whatever it
took to keep their families healthy! For
the most part these days they still do.
Now - - - my embarrassing confession. We have three spoiled dogs. One is a pig by nature and eats every thing
in sight including the dog food meant for the other two dogs.
When I discovered what was happening, I
decided to ensure that my 5-year-old Labrador received his own can of special
food. I took the spoon that I had used
to scoop out the food and began to feed him by playing the game
“Airplane.”
You might say that this special attention became a favorite game with him and he doted on the spoiling. Sadly it has come to the point that he will barely eat his dinner unless I feed him!!
You might say that this special attention became a favorite game with him and he doted on the spoiling. Sadly it has come to the point that he will barely eat his dinner unless I feed him!!
It occurred to me that many
Christians enjoy the Word of God, but only after it has been chewed and spoon fed
to them. Others will not “eat” the Word
of God, unless a game is played to stimulate their appetite.
Justifiably for the children
in Sunday school who are just beginning to learn to “feed” themselves certain
methods of motivation and training are necessary.
They need the Bible Stories and the lessons
in down-to-earth everyday examples so they can understand what God is saying to
them.
Hopefully as they begin to read
and study they will learn to nourish themselves.
I am not against devotional
books and Christian magazines, as I enjoy several. However they are not a substitute for the
actual Bible which is God’s word to us.
May I encourage you to dust
off your Bible and begin today to read through the New Testament? A chapter at a time is a good way to start. Some study Bibles have “helps” to explain the
scriptures. The “helps” will suggest verses
to follow along the same theme and the Holy Spirit is also right there to
guide.
When Christians become
skilled at handling not just the milk of the Word, they will profit
spiritually. It will be like adding meat
to the diet. The good news is when you
learn to feed yourself you will become spiritually healthy and fit just the way
God planned.
I Corinthians 3:2
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not
able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
This post is linked with Ann
Kroeker’s Food on
Fridays
Do visit her site and gather
up some delicious and nutritious recipes
2 comments:
This is delightful! I live in a developing nation and I see mom's feed their babies this way all the time. I love the tie in to feeding ourselves with the word of God. We just wrote about this same topic-how to grow spiritually (or not) through our study.
http://www.maidservantsofchrist.com/detail.asp?DetailID=255&Return=/
What an awesome post! That is a great analogy about the baby Christians needing to have the "Food" chewed for them first. I'll be reading today from Jeremiah... Thanks for the reminder and great story.
Post a Comment