If You Teach a Man to Fish

As a teacher, I've heard this quote a million times.  Just in case you've never heard it, it goes something like this: If you give a man a fish, he'll have fish for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, he'll have fish for a lifetime.  First of all, if my food source depended on me fishing, I would starve.  My family doesn't even ask me to go fishing with them anymore because they know I'll ruin the experience.  My husband took me fishing one time on a river boat.  I was excited in the beginning, but my excitement waned when I was told that I needed to be quiet.  The fish are under the water, and I'm on top of the water.  It shouldn't have mattered.  After twenty minutes of quiet, I was bored so I wanted to bond. My husband wanted to fish.  That day, we did neither.  When it came time to bait the hook, I was out.  An experience that involves an animal excreting its bowels while it is skewered is not an experience for me.  Thus, I am not a fisherman!  This quote, thank goodness, is not about fishing.  For all of you parents who will be homeschooling your child or guiding them through online school, this will make sense to you.  It is about teaching others in order to sustain life.  As a teacher who works with preschoolers, I've spent a lot of time teaching basic life skills: how to use a fork, how to use the toilet, and how to write their name being a few.  Can you imagine if a thirty year old never learned those skills.  No one wants their healthy new spouse to ask them to change their diaper! When evaluating students, I ask parents if their children are able to do simple life skills.  I can't tell you how many parents have told me their child can't do simple skills because the parent has always done everything for them.  It's fine to button a three year old's shirt, but our society frowns upon doing the same thing for your sixteen year old.  When we teach our children to be independent, we are teaching them to survive when we're gone.  Are we doing that spiritually?  We can bring them to church and read them the Bible, but the greatest way  to teach them to spiritually live is to practice it in front of them.  When following Christ becomes an alive and joyous experience for us, it will become that way for our children.  If it is a burden or just another duty, it will resound the same way with them.  Don't just teach them the method/steps of following Christ. I've learned the steps of fishing, but the joy was never there for me.  Teach them the joy, love, and passion of following Christ.  This will give them passion for a lifetime.

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!