Your beliefs don’t make you a better person; your behavior does. ~ Unknown

Today while working at Target Starbucks I witnessed an opportunity for understanding.  A frustrated Mother relentlessly chastising her 5ish year old, for behaving like he was a 5 year.  She continually asked him why he did things that, appeared to me to be what any 5 year old would do.  She continued berating him to sit down, be quiet and not move.  His response you wonder, yep I’m 5 and I’m bored and I want to play.  His only desire were to be engaged, receive attention and be LOVED!

So what I inferred from this an     d my bible study tonight on “Discerning the Voice of God” is how many times do we pray for something, receive it, and then don’t take the time to care for it.  Not personally knowing the woman or her story, I can only speculate she had been treated similarly as a child and was only doing what she knew to be true.  But I say, that isn’t good enough.

We have advantages like no generation before us, the ability to acquire knowledge at our finger tips via smartphones, tablets and laptops.  But how many of us are stuck in frustrated, unproductive behaviors because we won’t STOP and research how to be better/do better.  So instead of treating the people in our lives as nuisances, interruptions and problems why not research how to improve interactions and successfully engage and connect with children/people.

I heard Andy Stanley said is best, “No one at home should ever have to compete with work.”  For example, there are possibly numerous articles on how to keep children engaged while working in a public setting.  What a difference for that Mother and Child, had she taken 10-15 minutes to create a healthy, loving environment for their afternoon outing?  I’m guessing pretty awesome.  And even if it didn’t work the first time, grab another article from a different source finding a fresh perspective…you get the gist.

If you are having challenges in any area of your life STOP and research, ask questions until you find an answer.  I DON’T KNOW without research is simply an excuse and is actually I DON’T CARE.  Everything you need to know to get started doing ANYTHING begins with YOU doing research and asking questions.  You can be better and do better but it begins with you.