Monthly Archives: November 2021

Children and Santa

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by Pat Lamb ( Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…)Books are available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Train up a child

Children and Santa

       For a long time, Santa has been our society’s focal point of Christmas.  He, no doubt, has sold many millions of dollars worth of toys.  He has produced much laughter.  He has caused the eyes of children to light up.  In reality, he has been the only reason many people observe Christmas.

         What is the current status of Santa?  Our computer-literate generation of children is not easily fooled.  In truth, how many of us grown-ups ever really believed in Santa?  Some children were fooled simply because they believed that their parents would never lie to them.  Others believed because they thought that by believing, they might get more gifts. Many of us could easily see the impossibility of someone flying around the whole world in one night and stopping at each house and going down each chimney.  We felt that it was insulting our intelligence to expect us to believe such a far-out story.  

         Today, we have many fat Santas at malls, department stores, parades, etc.  Do we really think that our children are not intelligent enough to figure out that they are too big to fit in a chimney?  Even a toddler can question why there are so many Santas.  

         A bigger question involves the feelings of a child who truly believes in Santa because he trusts his parents to never lie, and then finds out that the parents did, indeed, lie to him/her.  What happens, then, when the parents tell the child about an invisible Jesus?  For that matter, can the child believe the parents at any time if they deceived them with a Santa?  

         Our children cannot be shielded from Santa.  Our society sees to it that Santa is visible over and over.  It is a situation we must deal with.  We don’t want to rob our children of the fun of Christmas, but, at the same time, we don’t want our children to lose trust in us. A parent cannot avoid making a decision as to how to handle Santa.

         One idea for parents is to tell the children that to pretend there is a Santa is a fun game that is played at Christmastime.  Just as children play pretend in other areas, parents play pretend with the child about Santa. When little girls play pretend “mommy” with dolls, or little boys may play pretend” soldier with army toys, they do not really think they are grown.  It is alright to play pretend as long as children can come back to reality. This stimulates creativity. By letting the children know up front that Santa is a pretend game, future disappointment is eliminated.  It would be a good idea to explain that Santa represents giving and making others happy.  That is something that Jesus wants us to do. 

         Santa will probably be around for a long time to come, but deceiving children should end. We should never lie to children.   

         It is important that we create a pleasing experience for children at Christmas without leaving them with the feeling at a later time that they have been deceived.  Different personalities handle this in different ways.  Ultimately, whatever means is used, children should be left with understamding the real meaning of Christmas.  Children need to understand that Christmas is a celebration of the time that God sent his only son into the world to show His love for us.  

Giving Should be from the Heart

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by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Train up a child

Giving Should be from the Heart

         When my husband and I worked on the Navajo reservation several years ago, at one time we had a principal of our school who was one of the last survivors of the Mandan Indian tribe.  On one occasion, his cousin came to visit him and gave him an air-conditioning unit for his car.  Mr. Bearghost, our principal, in turn gave his cousin his favorite rifle.  He explained to us that the custom of the Mandan tribe had always been to give as a gift to someone else the thing that meant the most to self.  In keeping with this custom, when a man went deer hunting, the first deer killed was to be given away to someone else.  The hunter could keep only the second deer killed.

         “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” is a difficult lesson to teach children.  It is something we adults often forget ourselves.  However, it really is true.  Some of the best memories of Christmas are those of pleasing someone else with a gift.  

         True love means giving up the wants and wishes of self for the benefit of others.  The purpose of giving gifts at Christmas is to show love for others. It follows then, that to truly show love for others, we need to sacrifice the wants of self.

         We should not go in debt to give gifts.  By doing so, we are not really giving the gift, but the gift is being given by the one providing the money.  A gift should come from our own means. When we give money to children to buy gifts, it is really the person who gave the money who is buying the gift.  Children should examine their own means and abilities to see what they can give.  

         One of the best gifts that can be given is time.  How wonderful it is when our grown children now come to visit  me and they look around the house to see what needs to be done that is difficult for me to do.  Every time they visit and leave, they have left the place in better shape than when they came.  Small children, too, can learn that obeying and helping with chores can be a good gift for parents and others.

         At a missions conference I attended, we were told that people in another country were praying for America because we had become too materialistic.  Christmas is a time when we have a special opportunity to choose whether to put emphasis on materialism or to teach children that material things are not lasting and that there are more important things in life.  At the current time, as we look at pictures on TV of homes burned in California and other places, we see a visual lesson of how material things do not last.  In recent years and months, we have seen over and over belongings of people destroyed in floods, hurricanes, fires, ice storms, earthquakes, or tornados.  These happenings should serve as a reminder to us that there are more important things in life than material possessions.

         This Christmas season may we truly put emphasis on love of family and others instead of just accumulating “things”.

It Really is the Thought that Counts

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by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble; www.patlambchristianauthor,com

Train up a child…

It Really is the Thought that Counts

         A lot of joking takes place at Christmas and birthdays when gifts don’t seem to match up with the recipients.  There are those who think that if you spend a lot of money, the gift should be appreciated. Some folks like handmade gifts; others think it is a sign that the giver has more time than money.  Some people fret and fret and still cannot come up with a gift that they feel comfortable in giving to someone. Then, thankfully, there are those who just seem to have a knack for gift-giving and always seem to come up with just the perfect gift.  

         I wonder if the secret to knowing the perfect gift for someone is knowing someone perfectly well.  The better we know someone, the better we know their likes and dislikes.  When we wait until the last minute and feel that we simply must find a gift, usually neither the giver nor the recipient enjoys the choice. In fact, there are those wonderful, efficient people who are alert to appropriate Christmas gifts all year long, picking up things they know someone would like when they happen to see them or making things ahead of time for those they love.

         I’m glad there are still those folks who enjoy handmade gifts.  They are getting scarce as time to make them becomes more and more limited.  I’ve always felt that someone must care for another very much to go to all the trouble to make something. Counted cross stitch, embroidery work, handmade pieces of furniture, crocheted or knitted work, and other handmade items are really priceless.  

         In the movie, “Christmas in Canaan”, on the Hallmark channel a unique idea was given.  I had never heard the idea that was presented there.  The father wrapped up pictures from catalogs of items he wished he had money to buy for the family members.  In the story plot, the crops had been bad and money was scarce.  The family remembered that special Christmas in the years to come and treasured the love shown by a father who truly wished he could do more.  The story was another reminder that Christmas is love, not things.

         It is so very noble when people ask that gifts not be given to them, but rather the money for those gifts be used to meet the needs of others. There are needy families who can really use some help.  On the other hand, there are those folks who have so much that it is hard to think of anything they don’t already have to give to them.  It is amusing to look through some catalogs and see some of the unusual creations that are there to lure people to spend money.  

         When we give to others from the heart, it is like giving to Jesus.  After all, it really is his birthday, not ours.  We need to teach our children to give from the heart by setting the right example for them.  Children need to understand that we give to others to show our love for them.  Emphasis needs to be put on what would make the other person happy.  We can help children avoid selfishness when we teach them that gifts should be given with a great deal of thought and love.  

Children Need to Give

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by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.patlambchristianauthor.com

 

Train up a child…

Children Need to Give

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  Acts 20:35

       At Christmas time each year, thoughts turn to what we can give children to make them happy and excited.  Actually, one of the best things we can give a child is the understanding of the joy of giving.  Children are often only recipients of gifts, but they need to learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive; otherwise, they will grow up thinking only of themselves.

         I learned the lesson of letting someone give, no matter how meager their means, when we lived on the Navajo reservation.  Just as we often think that children can’t give, many of us often think that grownups of meager means can’t give.   

         When our two older boys were small, we worked with the Navajo people.  On one occasion, we were in Gallup, NM, when a Navajo gentleman from Ramah, NM, saw us and asked us for a ride back to Ramah.  We gladly told him we would give him a ride.  As we went down the road, he said, “Lamb, stop. Get pop.”  In his broken English he was telling us to stop and buy him some soda.  My husband, Keith, said, “You buying, McDaniel??”  I was shocked!  To think that my husband would expect this poor Indian man to buy pop for us!  McDaniel was taken by surprise as well.  He grinned and kind of chuckled under his breath, and finally said, “OK”.  My husband pulled up to the trading post, McDaniel got out and went inside.  When he returned, he had soda for Keith, himself, and me and had even bought ice cream bars for our boys!  He had a big broad grin on his face of complete satisfaction!  He had bought something for those “rich” white people.  I almost choked as I drank the pop, but realized as we drove on down the road what a wonderful thing had happened.  McDaniel had changed from a dependent person to making us dependent on him.  He had found real worth and felt real pleasure in being able to give to someone else.

         It is the same way with children. When children can give, they feel a real sense of accomplishment and worth in making someone else happy. There is no feeling that compares.

         Children do not have to give big, expensive gifts, but the gifts do need to be from them personally.  It is not the same for parents to give money to children to buy gifts, for then the gifts are actually from the parents.  The gifts should be something that the child has an active part in. With a little help from parents, children can come up with good ideas. I once received a handmade card from our grandson.  As his mom was getting it ready to mail, he said, “Wait!”  He ran and got a quarter, a dime, and some pennies.  “I want to send these to Nana”, he said.  When I received the card, there was a little baggie stapled to the top with the change in it.  He was giving me all he had at the moment because he loved me.  I still have it in a plastic bag and will probably keep it for a long time.

 The best way to teach the joy of giving is to encourage children to give. Doing so proves the point!

A Thanksgiving Story

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by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Train up a child…

A Thanksgiving Story

            Here is a story you can share about Thanksgiving. Reading or telling this story will help children appreciate what others have gone through in the past and how it affects us now.

Why is This Happening to Me?

            About four hundred years ago, there were some Indian tribes who lived in what is now Massachusetts.  White people did not yet live in this country, but some had been here exploring new lands. One time a ship carrying white men came to explore the coast.  They were fascinated with the Indians.  They decided to capture some and take them back to England to show people there what Indians looked like. A young man named Squanto was one of the Indian boys captured.

            While in England, the men decided to teach the Indian boys they captured to speak English. When Squanto had learned enough English, they took him back with them to what is now our country to use him as an interpreter and a guide as they continued exploring.

            While Squanto was back here in what is now America, he was tricked by some other white men and taken to Spain to be sold as a slave. Some monks bought him and he lived with them for a time and learned about the “white man’s God”.  After living at the monastery for some time, someone took him back to England and from there he was taken to America to be used as an interpreter and guide once again.

            On this final trip back to our country, he did such a good job as interpreter and guide, that those who were exploring decided to let Squanto return to his tribe.  When he arrived at the place where his tribe lived, he found that his whole tribe had died of a disease, and he was the only Patuxet Indian left!

            Squanto moved in with another tribe of Indian people whose chief was named Samoset.  It was a short time later that the pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock. The pilgrims had prayed and prayed about going some place where they could have freedom to worship God as they felt they should.  They had asked God to watch over them and care for them.  Imagine how surprised they were when they arrived and met Squanto, an Indian man who could speak English!

            Squanto moved to the village that the pilgrims started.  He lived with the pilgrims and taught them to hunt, plant, fish, and make treaties with other tribes of Indians so they could live peacefully together. The winters were very harsh and many of the pilgrims died during the first year.  They did not have medicines then like we have now, and their food was scarce.  Some people starved to death. 

            Squanto died in 1622.  He asked Governor Bradford to pray for him that he might go to the Englishman’s God in heaven.

            Had it not been for Squanto, it’s possible that none of the pilgrims would have survived.  He played a very important part in our country’s history.

            After telling the story, discuss it with those present.  Here are some questions that may be used for discussion:

  • How do you think Squanto and the other boys felt when they were captured?
  • Do you think it was easy for Squanto to learn English?
  • Do you think Squanto ever said to himself, “Why is this happening to me?”
  • What would have probably happened to Squanto if he had not been captured?
  • What do you think the pilgrims were thinking when they arrived and found Squanto, an Indian man who could speak English?
  • Do you think God worked in Squanto’s life for a purpose?
  • Do you think God has a purpose for your life?