On Religious Education

During a survey a few years ago, I recommended a comparative religion component be included in the Grade 5 Bible class.  I believed it would be beneficial for children to understand the differences (and similarities) between Christian denominations and other world religions.

At that time I also suggested delegates from the various faiths do the teaching to ensure they were represented fairly.  Perhaps this would have been too difficult to correlate, but I didn’t expect the whole program to be cancelled.  Don’t you hate it when you try to do something good and it backfires?

I believe that education increases understanding.  In a time when the words “tolerance” and “respect” are waved as banners above us, wouldn’t it be easier to tolerate and respect others’ religious beliefs if we actually tried to understand them through education?

Notice I say “tolerate”, “understand”, and “respect” – not necessarily “accept”.  We don’t have to accept or adopt something into our own lives in order to understand it or respect those who believe it.

If the Bible (or religion in general) isn’t taught in school, will it be taught at home?  I think there may be some parents who want to teach their children but don’t know what to say because they haven’t received any religious training themselves.  It can be confusing with so many differing views out there.

Lately, the loudest view seems to be non-believers screaming “No God – No Religion!” in an attempt to save the rest of us from our folly.

Rest assured there are still plenty of believers.  I love it when people tell me of their faith or how a prayer was answered.  Keep it up folks!  We can continue to believe and study the Bible even without a class at school to help us along.

Garbage, Garbage Everywhere

When the snow melts, spirits rise.  We can’t wait to see the grass turn green and the wildflowers bloom in the ditches.  But before we can see those beautiful sights, we have to endure an ugly one:  garbage everywhere.

How does it get there? I wonder.  Are there giant crows (like in Fort McMurray) who know how to lift the lids of metal trash-bins?  I haven’t seen any here.  Maybe the wind blows it in from neighbouring communities.  Maybe a garbage truck threw up.

It can’t possibly be the obvious, can it?  Are people really throwing coffee cups, fast food containers, and diapers out their windows as they drive along?  I refuse to believe it.  I can understand the occasional apple core tossed out, but paper garbage?

Oh, I get it.  The litterers are being kind.  They want to give town workers, inmate work parties, and youth groups something to do every spring.

I also wonder about the overflowing trash bins I see on garbage day.  Bins so full the lids won’t close.  Our family of seven makes less than two bags of garbage and one bag of recycling most weeks.  What’s going on at these other houses?  How do they make so much garbage?  Did I miss a memo or something?

Now and then I open my van door and a receipt blows away or a water bottle rolls out.  But I quickly grab it or have one of my children go after it.  “We don’t litter,” I say.  “We want to keep our world clean.”

You’d think, with all the talk about saving the environment and desiring to reduce our ecological footprints, we could start with something as simple as composting, recycling, and keeping our own garbage out of the gutter.

Those Three Little Words

I grew up in a family that didn’t say “I love you” very often.  In fact, it seemed to be a difficult thing for us to say.  Right before bedtime I occasionally mustered the courage to say it then I would quickly slip away to my room where I could hide my tears.

Now that I’m married with children, it’s easy to say “I love you” and wonderful to hear it in return.  But is saying it enough?

When I was growing up, I never doubted that my family loved me because we found other ways to show our love instead of saying it, like spending lots of time together both working and playing, and treating each other with respect.

If saying “I love you” is hard, there are other fun ways to express those three little words:  writing in steam on the bathroom mirror, a note tucked into a lunch box, or coloured paper hearts scattered on a favourite chair or pillow are just a few ideas.

My brother-in-law enjoys those little red cinnamon heart candies so my sister hides them throughout his personal belongings.  She wrote a poem telling him that whenever he finds one, he is to remember that she loves him.

Besides “I love you”, there are other three-word combinations that are nice to hear often:  “Thanks for dinner”, “Let me help”, or “I am sorry”.

What woman doesn’t like to hear “You look beautiful”, “Let’s eat out”, or “You are right”?  Men might rather hear “You’re so strong”, “Let’s make out”, or “Here’s the remote”.  Hey, whatever works!

As some fridge magnets remind us, “Love Is a Verb” because it is expressed and affected by the things we say and do.  To keep love alive and healthy, it needs to be fed and nurtured.  Using those three little words regularly is a good start.