I remember singing that song just about every Sunday when I was in elementary school, and when my mom wanted to remind us how we ought to behave, she would sing a bar or two. It even would pop into my head as an adult, while trying to decide how to spend my time.
Now that I have two elementary schoolers myself, I am trying to teach them the same concept – that what you see, hear and think about will affect you, so be careful. They don’t sing that song, so they will have to settle for my lectures running through their heads!
My son loves Lego. There are some awesome sets out there. There are also some really cool sets that are a bit too dark for my tastes. For months he has been obsessed with several sets that I have repeatedly told him I didn’t think were good for his psyche. He would insist that he was just pretending with them, that he knew that they were just toys and wasn’t going to let them affect him negatively. Meanwhile, he was constantly in trouble at school for fighting, or goofing off.
About two weeks ago he finally took my advice and started obsessing (that’s part of being autistic – something is either an obsession, or isn’t even on the radar), about sets that were cool, but not so dark. And guess what?
The first week he was only in trouble at school a few times, and the second week he had excellent behavior. He was also more pleasant to be with at home. This then translated into him having more time to do what he liked – computer, and less time spent doing extra jobs.
God’s word proves true, yet again: )
Philippians 4:8-9
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
"Most Likely to Succeed" 