Make a Difference

Today's sermon on Ruth and her faithfulness to her mother-in-law's God really struck a chord in me. Ruth is a Moabitess. When Naomi's 2 sons died and she sent her daughters-in-law away to fend for themselves, Ruth stubbornly stayed by her side. Her words of dedication:

"Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." -Ruth 1:16-17

I have gone through this book for Bible Study before and I remember some of us in the group were wondering what had Ruth seen in Naomi's God that made her realise the good in following Him. Surely this faith had not stemmed out of nowhere. Could it have been Naomi's testimony?

Later in the day, I read Dr James Dobson's booklet on "The Strong-willed Adolescent" and he explained that showing dignity and respect to an adolescent in the most confusing years of puberty may be the best way to affirm their identity and boost their low self-esteem. He cited an example of one of his students tracking him down 10 years after he left the school. This student had been a child who had a problem with confidence. She was embarassed by her Latin heritage and was slightly overweight. She only had one friend, who moved away shortly.

After some conversation with this student, who was by now a grown woman, she asked him: "Where do you go to Church?" He then took the opportunity to invite her to his church that weekend. It turned out that this student became a vibrant Christian and even participated in choir.

A few months later, Dr Dobson asked her why she asked him what church he attended during that telephone conversation. The student said, "Because when I was a seventh-grade student in junior high school, you were the only person in my life who acted like you respected and believed in me...and I wanted to know your God."

Wow. I can imagine how much we can do to in our children's lives just according them the respect and affirmation. How we can be signages pointing to Jesus everyday for those around us by showing them how much they are worth in his eyes. Perhaps scolding is not the best way to go sometimes but affirmation.