“…Your sons and daughters will prophecy…your young men will see visions.” {Joel 2:28 CEV}
There’s a scene in Man of La Mancha where Don Quixote and his servant are standing gazing at a dilapidated inn. WhenQuixote describes his vision of turrets and magnificent gates, comparing the building to the Alcazar, the royal palace in Seville, the servant tries hard to see his master’s vision. However, all he can see are ruins. When he attempts to describe them, Quixote tells him to stop, saying, “I will not allow your Facts to interfere with my Vision!” Can You Just Imagine What A Lot Of Us Could’ve Become If Only We Had The Guts To Tell People: “I Will Not Allow Your Facts To Interfere With My Vision”? How many of us would’ve traveled abroad; went away to school; entered the military; tried a completely different field of study; stayed in school; bought that house; started that business; learned that second language; moved to Paris; applied for that loan, grant or scholarship! How much have we really missed out on in life because we allowed their facts to distort our vision?!
Alex Morrison said it best, “You must first clearly see a thing in your mind before you can do it.”
And the mind of a child is an absolutely awesome place! Why? Because it’s a place filled with possibilities, no limits, no boundaries, no barriers, no fears, no cares, just great vision of great wonders yet to be accomplished! They’re not afraid to say at such tender ages, “I will be a policeman; I will be an athlete; I will sing at Madison Square Garden; I will dance on Broadway; I will be a fireman; I will be an actress; I will be a doctor; I will be a lawyer; I will be a judge; I will be president!” They don’t focus on the guns, the shooting, the bloody surgeries, the violence, the loss, the frustration, or the fears! They don’t focus on the many disappointments and failures and million times they’ll be told ‘NO!’ They don’t focus on the hours of study or the hours of painfully long rehearsals. They don’t focus on the prejudice they’ll have to confront and conquer. They focus on what they have determined in their mind that they are capable of becoming! They don’t focus on all the training and schooling or even all the people saying ‘you can’t do that’! All they focus on is the vision of becoming what their mind said they could!
“We call a child’s mind “small” simply by habit; perhaps it is larger than ours is, for it can take in almost anything without effort.” (Christopher Morley).
There’s not much you have to talk a child into once they’ve made up their minds! After all, they believe in the tooth fairy that leaves money under their pillows and takes their loss teeth off their hands; they believe in a big fat Santa Clause that carries sacks of toys for every child in the entire world, and he delivers them down a little chimney; they believe in flying reindeer that can keep Santa in the air all night for one night to deliver gifts to the whole world; they believe in a talking Frosty the Snowman who gets on a sled and slides across the snow with the rest of the children; they believe in Easter Bunnies who someone cause drops of chocolate to seep out of their bodies for children to eat; they believe in magic beans, giants and stalks that grow all the way up into the sky! Which is why I agree with Frank Oz, “Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.” Children have such an imagination so big that there is very little you can tell them that they won’t believe! And yet we as adults are told by our Living Savior that with Him we can do all things, and nothing is too hard, and nothing is impossible, and yet we doubt Him every day. We indeed could learn quite a bit from a child’s mind, and even moreso from childlike faith!
In the last days God promised to pour out His Spirit on ALL kinds of different people (not just the ones we think deserve it)! He said, “…Your sons and daughters will prophecy. Your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.”
One Bible teacher writes: “When The Holy Spirit Fills Us, We Have Visions That Defy Facts! When I deal with young people who get a vision of doing something big for God, I can always count on their parents to throw a little cold water on it. The parents say they want them to be realistic. But such parents don’t understand that when God takes possession of young people, He give them dreams and visions that force them to look beyond the facts, and sometimes run counter to reason. We dare not turn them from these…they are what gives meaning to our lives.”
Parents (and youth leaders), don’t try to pour your children into the mold of your own unfulfilled expectations! Encourage them to seek God and get a vision for their own future! And when they get it, don’t distort their vision due to your lack of one! Why? Because, “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” (Neil Postman). If we give them discouragement today, their tomorrows will be filled with discouragement. If we give them doubts, fear and low-self-esteem today, their tomorrows will be filled with the same! “Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.” (Author Unknown). Therefore, you don’t want to fill their hearts, minds and mouths with such words as “you can’t, you’re not smart enough, you don’t have enough money for that, you don’t live in the right neighborhood, you can’t attend that school, you’re not good enough, that’s too hard for you, that’s impossible for you to achieve.” They will reach a point where they quote you word for word and live out the words you’ve spoken repetitively over their lives! And I don’t know about you, but I want to know that the legacy my children continue to carry out after I’m gone is one of no limits, no boundaries, no barriers, no fears, no cares, just great vision of great wonders that they possess the ability to accomplish!
Proverbs 18:21, “Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.” (CEV) Can you imagine what would happen to our children if they digested everything we said to them? What if all we spoke were words of death? Words that said ‘don’t dream; don’t imagine anything bigger, better or greater than where you are right now, because you’ll never attain it. Don’t apply for college, we don’t have the money and you’re not smart enough anyway.
Don’t go for that position, you know no one of color is in management on your job. Don’t apply for that mortgage they don’t give stuff like that to us. Why are you trying to start a business, you know no one in our family has ever started a business before. Don’t travel out of the country you don’t know how dangerous that is.’ Can you just imagine if our children ate our death speech every day, what would become of them? However, what if all we spoke were words of life? Words that said, ‘don’t base your dreams, goals and vision off your bank account, God can do anything.
Regardless to what the doctor said, we will continue to stand on the Word of God that with His stripes you are healed. You can do that, you can become that, you can go there, you can apply for that, you can attend that college, you’re smart enough, you’re good enough. Go for the mortgage, go to the car dealership, apply for the business loan, go for the grant and scholarship, you can do it. I know what our family has not accomplished, but that doesn’t even matter, you will just have to be the first!’ I ask you, can you just imagine if our children ate our life speech every day, what would become of them? Remember: “Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.” Let’s talk much about the things we want our children to eat daily, and that’s words of hope, trust, belief, vision, and faith! We wouldn’t feed our children anything in the natural that would kill them, so let’s make sure we’re not feeding them anything in the spiritual that would kill them! Teach them early on to starve their fears and feed their faith!
Listen: We don’t want to cloud their vision talking about the storms, winds and waves, but we want to feed their great vision with the truth, that in spite of the storms, winds and waves, they can yet walk on water right in the midst of it all! We don’t want to teach them that the circumstances have to be favorable first, No, we want them to keep their child-like faith and boldness, and walk out in the midst of the storm believing that when God says you can do something, you can do it, regardless to your surroundings!
If We Teach Them to SEE it, They’ll Learn to SEIZE it!
“A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to.” (Robert Brault). If you want to learn anything about the legacy you’re leaving behind, stop talking and listen to what your children are saying! You’ll either be very glad or very sad, since you gave them the crayons to paint a picture of their future! If it’s all gray, black and white, that’s all the color and encouragement you gave them! Teach our children how to color outside of the box, and to use every color in the box. Free them from the fear of comfort zones and conformity. Teach them that it’s okay to be different. They don’t have to fit in. They can break the status quo. Build their faith so that they won’t allow the negative speech of others to crumble their belief!
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” (Frederick Douglass).
With that said, back in the 60’s, youth were pushed hard to believe that they were Somebody, and that they could do great things regardless of their skin color! So what happened?! Why did we stop pushing them? Why did we stop supporting them? Why did we start hindering their hope? And viciously attacking their vision? Why are our youth under the impression that their dress attire doesn’t matter? Grooming doesn’t matter? Proper language doesn’t matter?
Education and employment don’t matter? Kids having kids doesn’t matter? When did they get the image that the best for them is standing around with a bunch of guys on a street corner, instead of standing around a bunch of guys in the board room? When did they get the idea that the “attire of a harlot” is appropriate attire in the house of God? What happened?! Truth is, we can’t blame a generation of ignorance, when it was US that stopped teaching such valuable lessons!
Listen to this: “(Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth).” (2 Samuel 4:4 NIV). What I find amazing about this story is that Mephibosheth was fine for the first five years of his life, but then an adult picks him up, drops him and he’s crippled for life! Truth is, we like to point our fingers at our young people, but as adults we fail to take responsibility for the fact and the truth that many of them were doing just fine before we interfered! Until we attempted to take charge and pick them up and carry them off to where we THOUGHT they should go, they were doing alright! Here’s a big pill to swallow: A lot of their “Crippling” came because we dropped them in the process of taking them in a direction WE THOUGHT BEST!
ADULTS: Take the time this week to really listen to our youth! Ask them about where they are, and where they plan to go. Ask them about the plans they have for their OWN lives, and don’t try to get a needle and thread and weave your ideas in there! Simply listen, and support! Encourage and reinforce that they can fulfill the Vision for their lives no matter how big, or even ridiculous it may sound to you! Let’s stop “Crippling” our children by trying to carry them into the place and vision WE have in mind for them, instead let’s walk side by side with them, enjoying the view of a beautiful vision that they have for themselves!
Yes, they are children, but remember, children aren’t afraid to believe and dream! Don’t spoil that for them! Don’t allow what you allowed to hinder you, to hurt them. Truthfully, maybe there are some goals, vision and dreams that you had for yourself that you didn’t accomplish. Well, you can continue to push for them if you’ll walk with childlike faith and believe that it is still possible, because it is. But more importantly, let’s push our youth to accomplish great things.
After all, we don’t want them to suffer from the same feelings of regret that many of us suffer with today. Let’s be to them today, who we needed others to be for us in our yesterdays. Don’t distort their vision, let them tell you what they see, then help them to see it even bigger, even clearer!
“The Jewish people, ever since David slew Goliath, have never considered youth as a barrier to leadership.” (John Fitzgerald Kennedy).
“Children are one third of our population and all of our future.” (Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981)
“Dear young people; do not bury your talents, the gifts that God has given you! Do not be afraid to dream of great things.” (Pope Francis)
Blessings
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