TEACH YOUR CHILD TO USE HANDS

A young man went to seek an important position at a large printing company. He passed the initial interview and was going to meet the director for the final interview. The director saw his resume, it was excellent. And asked,'

"Have you received a scholarship for school?" The boy replied, "No".
'It was your father who paid for your studies? '' Yes.' He replied.
'Where does your father work? ' 'My father is a Blacksmith'
The Director asked the young man to show him his hands.
The young man showed a pair of hands soft and perfect.
'Have you ever helped your parents at their job? '
'Never, my parents always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, he can do the job better than me.
The director said:
'I have got a request: When you go home today, go and wash the hands of your father and then come see me tomorrow morning.'
The young man felt his chance to get the job was high.
When he returned to his house he asked his father if he would allow him to wash his hands.
His father felt strange, happy, but with mixed feelings and showed his hands to his son. The young man washed his hands, little by little. It was the first time that he noticed his father's hands were wrinkled and they had so many scars. Some bruises were so painful that his skin shuddered when he touched them.
This was the first time that the young man recognized what it meant for this pair of hands to work every day to be able to pay for his studies. The bruises on the hands were the price that his father payed for his education, his school activities and his future.
After cleaning his father's hands the young man stood in silence and began to tidy and clean up the workshop. That night, father and son talked for a long time.
The next morning, the young man went to the office of the director.
The Director noticed the tears in the eyes of the young man when He asked him,
'Can you tell me what you did and what you learned yesterday at your house?'
The boy replied: 'I washed my father's hands and when I finished I stayed and cleaned his workshop.'
'Now I know what it is to appreciate and recognize that without my parents, I would not be who I am today. By helping my father I now realize how difficult and hard it is to do something on my own. I have come to appreciate the importance and the value in helping my family.
The director said, "This is what I look for in my people. I want to hire someone who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the hardship others go through to accomplish things, and a person who realizes that money is not his only goal in life".
'You are hired'.
A child that has been coddled, protected and given everything he or she wants, develops a mentality of "I have the right" and will always put himself or herself first, ignoring the efforts of parents, family and friends. If we are this type of protective parent are we really showing love or are we helping to destroy our children?
You can give your child their own room in a big house, good food, a computer, tablet, cell phone, and a big screen TV, but when you're washing the floor or painting a wall, children need to experience that too.
After eating, have them wash the dishes with their brothers and sisters, let them fold laundry or cook with you, pull weeds or mow the lawn. You are not doing this because you are poor and can't afford help. You are doing this because you love them and want them to understand certain things about life.
Children need to learn to appreciate the amount of effort it takes to do a job right. They need to experience the difficulties in life that people must overcome to be successful and they must learn about failure to be able to succeed.
Children must also learn how to work and play with others and that they will not always win, but they can always work harder to reach their goals. If they've done their best, then they can take pride in all the effort they put forth.
Life is about giving and serving and these qualities are taught in our homes.


Reference : Jim Loretta Facebook Post.

Unbelievably True

Cornered by the immensity of this universe

I find myself too small to fight against the odds.

The life itself is a tough thing to understand

Questions remain unanswered without a cause.

No matter what road you take, or what you choose

Like a whirlwind your hopes get shattered in seconds.

The rich says they don’t have enough

The poor cries having nothing for stomach.

The struggler’s struggles and the slaughters go free

Cornered by immensity of this universe

We are … merely the victim … the sufferers.

On December 13,2015

Be Willing to Let God Mould You

‘…as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand…’ Jeremiah 18:6 NKJV Henry Poppen, one of China’s first missionaries, spent forty years telling its people about the love of Jesus and how He died to take away their sin. One day, after he had finished speaking, a man approached him and said, ‘We know this Jesus! He’s been here.’ Dr Poppen explained how that wasn’t possible because Jesus had lived and died long ago in a country far from China. ‘Oh no,’ the man insisted, ‘He died here. I can even show you his grave.’ He led Dr. Poppen outside the city to a cemetery where an American was buried. There, inscribed on a crumbling gravestone was the name of a medical doctor who felt called by God to live and die among the people of this remote Chinese village. And when its people heard Dr Poppen describe the attributes of Jesus—His mercy, His love, His kindness, His willingness to forgive—they remembered the missionary doctor. God will use you when you’re willing to become ‘clay in the potter’s hand’.  Clay has no aspirations; it’s mouldable, pliable and completely subject to the potter’s will. Henry Blackaby says: ‘When God’s assignment demands humility, He finds a servant willing to be humbled. When it requires zeal, He looks for someone He can fill with His Spirit. God uses holy vessels, so He finds those who’ll allow Him to remove their impurities. It’s not a noble task being clay. There’s no glamour to it, nothing boast-worthy, except it’s exactly what God’s looking for.’ Reference : UCB Word For Today

Sometimes You Must Confront

‘…go and tell him his fault between you and him alone…’ Matthew 18:15 NKJV

Jesus said, ‘…if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.’ Confronting someone requires these three things: character, courage and caution. Let’s look at each: 1) Character : Since Jesus was secure in His identity and character as God’s Son, He was able to let go of the need to please and be accepted by those around Him. Being grounded in who you are in Christ and in what your heavenly Father created you to be, allows you the freedom to confront people when necessary without worrying about the fall-out or the negative consequences.  2) Courage : The Pharisees had the power to undermine Christ’s reputation, which eventually led to His death on the cross. But He told them the truth nonetheless. And you must do the same. You must be willing to take up your cross and follow Him, even when it means risking an argument and handling hurt feelings. To ‘confront’ means to get in ‘front’ of someone, look into their face, and deal with the issue honestly and lovingly because you value the relationship.  3) Caution:  Make sure you’re following God’s timing and not your own. It’s easy to use false courage or bravado to challenge others in order to get your own way. It’s easy to claim a confrontation is necessary, when what you actually want is control. No, you must ask God to show you when, how and where to confront others. Your goal should always be to reconcile and restore the relationship. So ‘go and tell him [or her]’.  Reference : UCB Word for Today

The Outcome is Up to You

‘…Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould…’
Romans 12:2 PHPS

You determine the outcomes in your life, because God has given no one but you power over your options. When things aren’t working out for us, we often look elsewhere for the reason. Like Eve, we say, ‘The devil made me do it.’ No, Jesus said, ‘…I give unto you power…over all the power of the enemy…’ (Luke 10:19 KJV). Like Adam, we say, ‘Eve made me do it.’ But the Psalmist says, ‘…I trust God, so I am not afraid. What can human beings do to me?’ (Psalms 56:4 NCV). Sometimes we believe circumstances beyond our control are responsible, but with God ‘…all things [including people and circumstances] work together for [our] good…’ (Romans 8:28)—not for our defeat! Your misbeliefs victimise you and predispose you to a lifestyle of trying to change people and circumstances. That’s like attempting to unscramble an egg. You become a blame-fixer instead of a problem-solver. Accept the truth that no matter what satan, others or circumstances do, God gives you the right to the last word in your life. ‘…greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world’ (1 John 4:4 KJV). The outcome is not determined by what goes on around you, but by what goes on within you. ‘…as he thinks in his heart, so is he…’ (Proverbs 23:7 NKJV). The devil can only determine the outcome with your permission and co-operation—and you don’t have to give them! So believe in God’s ability to bring you triumphantly through this difficulty.

Source : The UCB word for Today

LIFE'S STRUGGLES CAN BE OUR STEPPING STONES

 

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!
MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happens.
3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less from people but more from yourself.

Source : Story shared by Kerwin Rae

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF PANDITA RAMABAI

“A life committed to Christ has

Nothing to Fear

Nothing to Loose

Nothing to regret” – Pandita Ramabai

Pandita Ramabai – Founder of Mukti Mission

(1858-1922)

Ramabai was born on April 23, 1858 in Canara district of British India (now in Karnataka). Her Family belongs to Mala Kattemane Dongare Family. Her father, Anant Shastri, was an intellectual Brahmin, who from his study of Hindu texts, believed that women should be educated. His second wife, Ramabai's mother, Lakshmibai, was a child bride nine years of age. Against the prevailing Hindu traditions, he decided to educate her. The village Brahmins responded by ostracizing him, so Shastri left the village to make a home in the forest. The family moved from place to place. Whenever he could her father would lecture on the need for female education. He taught Ramabai to read and write Sanskrit, as well as how to interpret vedic texts. By the age of twelve, Ramabai had memorized 18,000 verses from the Puranas. Besides Sanskrit, Ramabai learned the Marathi, Kanarese, Hindustani, and Bengali languages.[1]

When her parents died in the 1877 famine, Ramabai and her brother decided to continue their father's work. She and her brother traveled all over India. Ramabai's fame as a lecturer reached Calcutta, where the pandits invited her to speak.[2] In 1878, Calcutta University, conferred on her the title of Pandita, as well as the highest title of Saraswati in recognition of her interpretations of various Sanskrit works.[3] The theistic reformer Keshab Chandra Sen gave her a copy of the Vedas, the most sacred of all Hindu literature, and encouraged her to read them.

After the death of her brother in 1880, Ramabai married Bengali lawyer, Bipin Behari Medhvi and they had a daughter whom they named Mano. Medhvi was a Sudra, so her marriage was inter-caste, even though it was considered inappropriate for a Hindu to marry into a lower caste. They were married in a civil ceremony on 13 November 1880. Ramabai resolved to spend her life attempting to better the status of women in India. She studied and discussed issues which surround Indian women, especially Hindu traditions. She spoke against the practice of child marriage and the resulting constraints on the lives of child widows. Husband and wife had planned to start a school for child widows, when Medhvi died in 1882.[1]

After Medhvi's death, Ramabai moved to Pune where she founded Arya Mahila Samaj, which is Sanskrit for "Noble Women's Society". The purpose of the society was to promote the cause of women's education and deliverance from the oppression of child marriage. When in 1882 a commission was appointed by Government of India to look into education, Ramabai gave evidence before it. In an address to Lord Ripon's Education Commission, she declared with fervor, "In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the educated men of this country are opposed to female education and the proper position of women. If they observe the slightest fault, they magnify the grain of mustard-seed into a mountain, and try to ruin the character of a woman.” She suggested that teachers be trained and women school inspectors be appointed. Further, she said that as the situation in India was that women's conditions were such that women could only medically treat them, Indian women should be admitted to medical colleges. Ramabai's evidence created a great sensation and reached Queen Victoria. It bore fruit later in starting of the Women's Medical Movement by Lady Dufferin.

In 1883 Ramabai received a scholarship to train as a teacher in England. During her time there she converted to Christianity and joined the Anglican Church. She developed a more clear vision at this time for what would become her future ministry in India. She dreamed of founding schools in India that combined education and industry. She also realized the need for Kindergarten school in India. In 1886 she was invited to America so she intently studied the kindergarten systems in America. When she returned to India, she started homes for the destitute and Christian churches. Ramabai combined her Christian ideals with her Indian culture to promote change in India. She also lectured across America for three years on the plight of women and child widows in India; and when the Ramabai Foundation was formed in America to collect funds for her projects in India, more than $30,000 was collected. More than 10,000 copies of her book, High Caste Hindu Women were sold in America, the profits from which were used give shelter to destitute women in India.

It was there that an association was formed to fund her school for child widows. By April 1889 she had started a home-cum-school in Bombay, which she named as Sharda Sadan. This was the first home for widows in Maharashtra- the only other home was in Bengal, started by a Mr. Sen, As Ramabai was a Christian and the school was funded by missionaries, local citizens viewed it with extreme caution and wariness. She brought in Sharada, a young Indian lady, after whom the Sadan was named while she was pregnant. But as Sharada refused Pandita's urge to take up Christianity, Ramabai drove her out 11 days after her delivery which was strongly criticised. Sharada fell ill and eventually died. Ramabai moved to Poona, name changed to Mukti Sadan. When they were hit by the 1900 famine, Ramabai and her helpers were able to rescue several hundred women. According to ManMohan Kaur there were as many as 1900 people in the Sadan. A school was organized. 400 children were accommodated in the Kindergarten, A training school for teachers wad also opened and an Industrial School with gardens, fields, oil press, dairy, laundry, ovens, etc. It also taught sewing, weaving, and embroidery.

Later on, she traveled extensively to see for herself the plight of many young women and widows condemned to life as temple prostitutes in Northern India. In a lecture given in June 1882, she pronounced, "Men look on us women as chattels: we make every effort to deliver ourselves from this situation. But some will say that this is a rebellion against man, and that to do this is sin. To leave men's evil acts unrebuked and remain unmoved before them is a great sin.”

She wrote a book about her travels to the United States "Status of Society of United States and a travelogue" and it has been published in English translation as Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter. The book is a traveler's account of the people and culture of the United States. It contains a pointed comparison of the status of women in the U.S.A. and India, and suggests that India should follow the path of reform, but is not without criticisms of American society, particularly its race problem. The work was almost immediately acclaimed as one of the greatest books of the time and was soon used as a textbook at the University of Bombay.

In 1889, Ramabai established the Mukti Mission in Pune, as a refuge and a Gospel witness for young widows deserted and abused by their families; she also established Krupa Sadan, a home for "fallen” women, who had been cast out of society. Ramabai also started 'Sharda Sadan', which also provided housing, education, vocational training and medical services for many needy groups including widows, orphans and the blind. In Sanskrit and most Indian languages MUKTI means liberation. In her spotless widow's white, Ramabai most often arose before 4:00 A.M. and worked until half past eight at night.

In 1896, during a severe famine Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts and rescued thousands of outcast children, child widows, orphans, and other destitute women and brought them to the shelter of Mukti and Sharada Sadan. A learned woman knowing seven languages, she also translated the Bible into her mother tongue - Marathi - from the original Hebrew and Greek.[3]

By 1900 there were 1,500 residents and over a hundred cattle in the Mukti mission and she was also involved in establishing a Church at Mukti. The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission is still active today, providing housing, education, vocational training, and medical services, for many needy groups including widows, orphans, and the blind.[4]

Ramabai was also a poet and scholar. In order to learn more about the education of women and receive training for her lifelong battle to help unshackle the women in India, she visited most parts of India, and even went to Britain (1883) and the United States of America (1886–88). During this time she also translated textbooks and gave lectures throughout the United States and Canada. Somehow she also found time to write and get published one of her most important books, The High-Caste Hindu Woman. This was also the first book that she wrote in English. Ramabai dedicated this book to Dr. Anandibai Joshi, the first Indian woman to earn a medical degree through training in Western medicine, who died in February 1887, less than six months after returning to India from America. The High Caste Hindu Woman, which, according to her beliefs, "showed" the darkest aspects of the life of Hindu women, including child brides and child widows, sought to expose the oppression of women in Hindu-dominated British India.
Family life

As Pandita Ramabai involved herself in social service, there was little family life for her. Her childhood was full of hardships, she lost her parents early and her husband expired within two years of marriage. She had also to educate her only daughter, Manorama Bai. She did this well: Manorama completed her BA at Bombay University; went to the USA for higher studies; returned to India, and worked as Principal of Sharada Sadan, Mumbai. With her help, Pandita Ramabai established Christian High school at Gulbarga (now in Karnataka), a backward district of south India, during 1912, and her daughter was Principal of the school. In spite of the relentless criticism, Ramabai remained focused on her goal of helping widows. In 1920 Ramabai’s body began to flag and she designated her daughter as the one who would take over the ministry of Mukti Mission. But Manorama's untimely death was a shock to Ramabai. Nine months later, Ramabai, who had been suffering from septic bronchitis, went to be with her Lord and her daughter. She died on April 5, 1922, a few weeks before her 64th birthday. Her contribution to social reforms, community service and Christianity in India is much appreciated.[5]
Awards and honors

"Pandit" and "Saraswati" at Bengal (before going to Britain), recognizing her skills in Sanskrit. Kaisar-i-Hind medal for community service in 1919, awarded by the British Government. She is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on April 5.

On 26 October 1989, in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of Indian women, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp.

Sources.

Helen S. Dyer, Pandita Ramabai: the story of her life (1900) online

Pandita Ramabai, Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter: The Peoples of the United States (1889), still in print.

Clementina Butler (1922). Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati: Pioneer in the movement for the education of the child-widow of India. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York.

Jay Riley Case, "An Unpredictable Gospel" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012)

Website :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandita_Ramabai