Part of the plan for us here at the Nut House this summer is to get into the Word more... Digging in, memorizing, teaching, learning as a family. Up 'til today I have had computer glitches that kept me from posting on the blog but I'm hoping to be able to get back into posting them once again! ha ha ha
Anyway, with the arrival of summer has also come what I will kindly call the Mouth. The most disruptive part of this particular visitor has been how it takes over the boys and causes them to antagonize each other verbally. Constantly. They both always have to have the last word and it has to be the loudest. Things will be going along pretty peacefully and suddenly the Mouth joins the fun and one of them will say something slightly inflammatory to the other. Never to let a chance for verbal sparring slip by unacknowledged, the intended victim jumps at the bait and it's not long before we have a full-on feeding frenzy that would rival Jaws and any of his man eating relatives.
Desperate to find as peaceful an extermination method as possible for the Mouth, I ran up on Proverbs 21:23 in my devotional time a few mornings ago. I kid you not, this is the exact verbage in my New Livng Translation and it is absolutely perfect. :)
If you keep your mouth shut, you will stay out of trouble.
Yes. Isn't it fabulous? :) :) :) I wrote it on the chalkboard in the dining room - as the family's current "verse for the day" (only it's been there for more than a day and might just wind up being there all summer) :)
Other translation are:
Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity. (New International Version)
Watching what you say can save you a lot of trouble. (Contemporary English Version)
Those who are careful about what they say keep themselves out of trouble.(New Century Version)
Watch your words and hold your tongue; you'll save yourself a lot of grief. (The Message)
The day I found it and wrote it down, it wasn't an hour before the feeding frenzies kicked off. I calmly walked over to the boys, told them to come into the dining room with me and their father (where we were working on our studies) and sat them down. I handed each of them their bible and a sheet of paper and told them to look up Proverbs 21:23 and to write it down several times. After that, we had this brief conversaton:
Mom: "So, what do you think that verse means?"
Cody: (recites the verse verbatim)
Shaun: "It means we need to shut up."
Mom: "Okay, why would it say that? Why would that be important?"
Shaun: "well, if we don't want to get in trouble, we should keep our mouths shut."
Cody: "yeah, it means Shaun shouldn't say mean things and I shouldn't either."
Shaun: "well if Cody wouldn't say mean things first or be so annoying, I wouldn't say them..."
(you see... this is how things get started)
Mom: whistle to get attention "Okay, let's start with this. What is this book the verse is in?"
Cody: "The bible."
Mom: "Okay and who wrote it?"
Shaun: "God."
Mom: "So is what this book says important?"
Cody and Shaun: "Yes."
Mom: "Should you listen to what it says?"
Shaun: "Yes."
Mom: "hhhmmmm... and when we don't do what it says, what is that called?"
Cody: "Sin."
Mom: "So, doing what God tells us NOT to do is sin, right?"
Shaun: "Yes."
Mom: "So, if God tells us in the bible to keep our mouths shut and also to be kind to others and we aren't, that would be....?"
Shaun: "Sin. Okay Mom, We get it."
Mom: "Good. Okay. So from now on, instead of yelling at you or arguing with you, we'll just say 'Proverbs 21:23' and you can repeat it back to us. Okay?"
Cody and Shaun: (grudgingly but relieved conversation is nearing the end and they don't have to write anymore) "Okay."
I am pleased to report that they still remember it and have only had to repeat it for us a few times ever since. each time they have, the situation is diffused, which makes Mom and Dad much happier. :)
And we've all memorized one very relevant scripture, in just the second week of summer vacation! yahoo!! Go Nut House! :)
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