This
is when I explained to the young man that not only was the person being
disobedient but disrespectful. I then told him, “Whenever you but at the end of
the sentence of explaining actions it negates everything in front of the
explanation. For example, Suzie cleaned her bedroom, washed the dishes, did the
laundry BUT she didn’t feed the dog as instructed by her mother. Was Suzie
being obedient? Most young people would say yes. I would beg to differ.
As
an adult entrusted with guidance of a young person it is the parent or guardian
responsibility to teach their youngster that if all task are not completed then
this is in no terms defined as acceptable. When a person is allowed to put off
one item then the next time they will add more to the all BUT list. Then the
youth would now know that they don’t have to do what they were instructed to
do. It is the duty of the parent/guardian to prepare the young person to know
that in life, all BUT is not acceptable and leads to degrading the integrity of
the person who is not in compliance with completing delegated task.
With
this in mind I gave this young man an example. Say…I came to live at your house
and you told me I’m not going to charge you rent but I want you to make sure
that you keep the living area that I’ve assigned you to be kept neat and clean.
My other duties are to do the family laundry, mop the kitchen weekly, spend
quality time with my children and prepare healthy meals for my children daily.
I agreed to these terms and did everything on the list but I shuffled the
children off to their grandparents every weekend and feed them peanut butter
sandwiches every day. My question to him was, “am I being obedient and
respectful of your house rules?” He immediately said no.
Sometime
children, tweens, teens and young adults look at situations from the way that
the person who rears them which has inadequate grounded life rules. Then they
attempt to defend wrong doings which are defined by someone’s actions who is without
healthy life rules. Because the child loves this person dearly they accept
their actions as grounded and acceptable. With this in mind it may cloud the
youngster’s judgment, but when they are guided with thought provoking
situations they recognizing that guidelines/rules are to be followed which
shows the persons integrity in all circumstances. And once they understand that following the
rules until ALL assigned task are completed defines obedience and anytime that
there is a BUT at the end of the sentence there is an undisputable signal of
disobedience. “You were
running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of
obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race
in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant.” Galatians 5: 7-8 MSG
My appeal to all who have been entrusted with guiding our citizens of tomorrow, are you raising children of integrity? Ones which follow instructions or are you allowing the BUT of disobedience contribute to society’s failure in honor minded people? They are the ones who think that they can get away with doing as little as possible and rules do not apply to them. Or as I say a world of false sensed and rationalized ENTITLED individuals who think the world owes them something, even though they have not contributed one thing to their own life’s existence. “Parents rejoice when their children turn out well; wise children become proud parents. So make your father happy! Make your mother proud!” Proverbs 23:25 MSG
