A Reason to Reason

My older two boys are on FaceBook which makes for great conversation fodder.  As does the news.  As does life.  The boys and I will show each other postings or share a news story which focusing on the silly and stupid.  Since I have such a huge and compassionate heart (lots of sarcasm here), I'll often respond to a posting with a snort some type of loving comment like, 

"Now there's a genius." 

"Seriously people?!?"  

"What the...?"

"Now there's a brianiac."

Obviously my hypocrisy is tremendous as I'm not the brightest bulb in the box.  Granted, there are 'green light' areas of my personality or within my skill set that allow me to shine in certain situations but more often than I care to admit, I overlook the obvious, forget the memorable, ask dumb questions, or just tune out altogether. 

 I blame these situations on being a tired mom.  



Seriously though, it terrifies me how many people lack any common sense or actually make the choice to not think at all.  Unfortunately, folks with these tenancies will often:  

*want to be spoon fed information and will most likely not retain or use it.

*give up if they have to hunt for answers on their own.

*base their choices on how they feel in the moment rather than making the wisest and most loving choices for everyone involved.  

*Live in cycles of despair and discouragement simply because those cycles are most familiar.

*believe mental recordings of negativity and selfishness than retrain their minds to consider joy, truth, and selflessness. 

People like this wonder why they never soar in life.  They are always grounded and their wings won't work.  They may even realize that their wings could work if the muscles were built and strengthened with practice.  

But...

There's work in learning.  

There's risk of falling.  

There's pain in failing.  

There's fear change. 

So they don't try.  Thus they don't fly.  

As a parent, one of my primary objectives is to teach my boys about the risks and rewards of flying.  To share stories of faith - tremendously huge stories as well as the every day, step-by step moments.  To show the fruit and blessings that are the result of hard work.  

Our job as parents is to send our kids into the world equipped, brave, self-feeding, and critically thinking.  We may provide them with a foundation on which they can build their lives but ultimately they alone will choose what they do with the foundation we provide. They may build on it or they may not.  

Regardless of this reality, while they are still home, we have opportunities to challenge their thinking, develop their character, shake their comfort zones, challenge their faith, and powerfully encourage them beyond their current realities.  We have a short window of time to teach them not only what to think of certain situations, but more importantly, how to think.  

How do they know what truth is?
How do they find it?
How do they find the truth in a situation, if even possible?
How do they uncover the lies hiding within their hearts?
How do they address difficult situations in the workplace?
How do they address faults within themselves?
How do they walk in faith in God when faith in self feels better?
How do they choose between two rights?

We have many reasons to teach our children to reason - a desire that they soar is just one.

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Great Resources:
*Online Bible search tool for topics, verses, and passages:  BibleGateway.com
*Critical Thinking Company - FANTASTIC resources for students (and parents!) geared toward teaching the mind to THINK.

*The Fallacy Detective - many of us use poor logic or reason every day in discussions and debates.  This book is for students but another fantastic one for adults as well!  A personal favorite!!!