{"id":10621,"date":"2019-03-18T20:20:47","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T20:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=10621"},"modified":"2019-03-18T20:20:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T20:20:47","slug":"what-it-means-to-be-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/10621\/what-it-means-to-be-a-child\/","title":{"rendered":"What It Means to Be a Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey, Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

I was wondering if maybe people would like to help me with something I’m\u00a0working on!\u00a0 I guess it was last month that I had a testimony about Jesus\u00a0teaching me what it means to “be as a little child” and it has continued\u00a0since then and I’ve been loving it.\u00a0 I asked for it.\u00a0 I prayed about it last\u00a0month for him to show me what it means.\u00a0 There have been a few more things\u00a0since then that I’ve learned.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The kids had done a few things that just required a “reevaluate what\u00a0you’re doing” mommy moment and I told them, “All you have to do is love me\u00a0and obey me.” \u00a0Thinking about it, obeying me is loving me, so really all the\u00a0have to do is love me…but that was another moment coming from above\u00a0through me to them. As soon as I said it, I took it in and knew it was for\u00a0me too. To know and understand.<\/span>
\n2. A situation came up where Timothy felt he could do something without\u00a0asking. I told him that he is a child and has to ask for everything.\u00a0 That’s\u00a0just part of what has to happen.\u00a0 If he can go somewhere, if he can talk to\u00a0someone, if he can eat something, if he can watch something, what time he\u00a0can go to bed, etc. I heard Jesus in that too, because as adults, we also\u00a0have to ask. What should we do today?\u00a0 Should I talk to that person?\u00a0 Can I\u00a0go here?\u00a0 What should I do in this situation?<\/span>
\n3. Matthew asked me something and I told him no.\u00a0 He complained about it and<\/span>
\nI asked him why he asked me in the first place.\u00a0 If you ask a question,\u00a0don’t come expecting to hear what will make you happy, instead, be happy\u00a0with what you hear.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, all this led to a time last week when I sat down with them in the\u00a0morning and we brainstormed things children are supposed to do.\u00a0 They each\u00a0gave really good ideas and of course I added some.\u00a0 Timothy asked what your\u00a0“flesh” is.\u00a0 I told him that your flesh is yourself without Jesus.\u00a0 We read\u00a0through them to see if they were things adults should also do, having God\u00a0as the parent.\u00a0 They agreed that all of them were!\u00a0 I am trying to teach them\u00a0that if they can learn to do these things now, they will be better able to\u00a0do them for Jesus later.\u00a0 You said something similar today \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, I am attaching pictures of the list we made, and continue to add\u00a0to, in case anyone has any other ideas! I plan to type it up and put it in\u00a0my house somewhere as a reminder to all of us on just how to be…how to\u00a0live a good life.\u00a0 I’ve liked looking at the list.\u00a0 I appreciate chances\u00a0to learn things that can make me happier \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0I added the last one today\u00a0after Coy said it…I love that!<\/span><\/p>\n

– mind your own business<\/span><\/p>\n

– obey your parents<\/span><\/p>\n

– play nicely<\/span><\/p>\n

– clean you own mess<\/span><\/p>\n

– ask before you do<\/span><\/p>\n

– listen for parents’ voices<\/span><\/p>\n

– stay with an adult<\/span><\/p>\n

– love your family<\/span><\/p>\n

– be calm and kind<\/span><\/p>\n

– use good manners<\/span><\/p>\n

– ask for help\/guidance<\/span><\/p>\n

– tell the truth<\/span><\/p>\n

– choose good friends<\/span><\/p>\n

– be happy<\/span><\/p>\n

– trust your parents<\/span><\/p>\n

– be helpful<\/span><\/p>\n

– apologize and make things right<\/span><\/p>\n

– be patient<\/span><\/p>\n

– be thankful<\/span><\/p>\n

– come when you are called<\/span><\/p>\n

– keep your attitude right<\/span><\/p>\n

– listen the first time<\/span><\/p>\n

– look at who’s talking to you<\/span><\/p>\n

– take care of people’s hearts<\/span><\/p>\n

– put other before yourself<\/span><\/p>\n

– don’t question answers from adults<\/span><\/p>\n

– stay ready for a “ye” or “no”<\/span><\/p>\n

– don’t expect things to be given to you, but rather, give<\/span><\/p>\n

– be happy for other people<\/span><\/p>\n

– encourage others<\/span><\/p>\n

– take care of your things, and others’ things<\/span><\/p>\n

– be slow to anger<\/span><\/p>\n

– think before you speak<\/span><\/p>\n

– think, “is it eternal?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Leah<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey, Pastor John, I was wondering if maybe people would like to help me with something I’m\u00a0working on!\u00a0 I guess it was last month that I had a testimony about Jesus\u00a0teaching me what it means to “be as a little child” and it has continued\u00a0since then and I’ve been loving it.\u00a0 I asked for it.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}