Radio commentator and writer Earl Nightengale once told the story of a little boy in elementary school. He sat staring out the window. He was so lost in thought that he did not notice the teacher stopped lecturing and stared at him. The entire class stared at him. A few giggles were heard. Then the little boy realized something was up. “What were you doing?” the teacher asked. “Thinking,” the boy answered. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to think in school,” the teacher responded.
Happens to me–a lot. Thinking, that is. Yesterday in church we had an infant baptism. It’s a United Methodist church, which is an offshoot from the Anglican tradition. We have the traditional infant baptism service which brings the new person into the community of faith. We all pledge to bring this child up in the ways of Jesus. (We also do believer’s baptism. Methodists want to make sure they cover all the bases, I guess.)
I started to think about the process. Are we a community enough that we care about each of the little people and consciously try to bring them up in the Lord? Do we work with each one? Do we teach them about spiritual practices such as study, prayer, celebration and the like during their formative years? Or do we turn them off like we’ve done to so many with mindless committee meetings, badgering for money, rules on top of rules?
Children are trained more by watching us than by listening to us. Makes me wonder if I’m doing what I say. All the time. What’s the use of knowing a lot, if I don’t change the way I live? And then model for these young people so they grow up enjoying the fruits of the spirit rather than the bitterness of sin.
Faith Venture 
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