Thought For The Week
My family observes Watch Night Services annually because we honor the sacrifices of our enslaved ancestry who prayed for freedom and dignity in America for many years. We honor their memories by beginning the New Year in church. This year, the first day of the New Year occurred on Sunday of 2012. Our Watch Night Services started at 10:00pm and continued a few minutes past midnight.
The origin of Watch Night Services can be traced back to December 31, 1862. Slaves waited for midnight to come on the morning of January 1, 1863 and for the Emancipation Proclamation to be signed into law. On that night, slaves gathered in churches and homes all across the nation waiting for any utterance that the document had been signed. At the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, all slaves were legally freed in the Confederate States. Since that day, African Americans have honored that faithful day by gathering in churches across the nation to praise the Lord, sing songs and uplift the name of God ... to bring in the New Year.
As I entered the church for worship services Sunday morning, an usher handed me a church bulletin. Once I settled down in the pews, I began to read it. I made a mental note of a couple of observations in it which struck my attention. First, it was Pastor Jackson’s inspirational sermonic topic and secondly, the "Thought for the Week."
The "Thought for the Week” read as follows: "A blind man's world is bounded by the limits of his touch. An ignorant man's world [is] by the limits of his Knowledge and a wise man world by the limits of his vision."
Several days later, I happened to have taken interest in the following article on the internet entitled “Mom Forces Son to Wear Sign as Punishment”. The article appeared in “The Root” published by The Slate Group, a Division of the Washington Post Company.
“Mom Forces Son to Wear Sign as Punishment”
“An Indiana mom decided that enough was enough and forced her 14-year-old son to stand on a sidewalk wearing a sign listing all his crimes.
The sign read, "I lie, I steal, I deal drugs, I don't follow the law."
The mother, Dynesha Lax, said that she felt the punishment was necessary because the judicial system took it too easy on her son.
"I decided he broke the law and they only gave him a few hours community service, so I decided that we were going to wear a sign that says you looking for attention, we're going to get you attention," Lax told KLTV. "What else more can I do? They put him on probation, and when they did probation, they were quick to talk about the 300-some dollars you have to pay in fees, but nobody's trying to help me fix my son."
While some passersby may have found it funny, the police received a call from one who thought what the mother did was illegal. Unfortunately for the child, it wasn't. Many will look at what this parent did as going overboard, but she felt she had to go to great lengths to get her message across.”
While reading the title of the article above, I wondered what prompted the young man’s mother to force her son to wear a sign as punishment?
After reading the second sentence, that question was answered. It seems to me that her act of desperation is a cry for help- as she said, “...nobody’s trying to help me fix my son.”
My thoughts reflected on the quote in the “Thought for the Week” referring to the blind man. Many youth and teens may not be physically blind; however, some become spiritually blind because they can not see the errors of their ways – what they are doing has become normal. This young man does not have enough caring hearts in his life to turn his life around. He needs caring hearts to help his mother reform his soul so that he sees through the lens of successful thinking, positive values and principles.
For whatever reason, the 14-year-old young man became spiritually blind. Therefore, he was bound by the limits of what he could put his hands on. When he spoke, he lied, when he went out into the world, he stole, and when he worked, he sold drugs – he did not follow the law.
The young man’s mother felt that the judicial system “took it too easy on her son.” Maybe they did or maybe they did not - I choose to believe that she was given a second chance to help him. Since she believes that the judicial system did not adequately helped her son, the other help which is greater than any other is the Word of God.
It seems that the mother had a measure of influence on her son because of what she was able to get him to do. If she is not attending church with her son, I suggest that she do so, which may allow him to become involved in activities that promote righteousness and service. Also, his mother may be able to enlist positive family members to help and church members to recommend developmental resources.
I believe that developmental resources such as positive peer group associations, organizations which emphasize moral values, principles, books which promote successful thinking and education can all be positive influences for her son.
As a result of a re-direction of his life, the young man may experience a change of heart; he may be able to break through the limits which bound an ignorant man by realizing a path to knowledge.
Finally, I believe that the young man can emerge out of ignorance with the insights that I suggested. Since a wise man is bounded by the limits of his vision, his mother has the power of influence to help him to become a man of vision and insight. She can teach him to anticipate behavior that will lead to a just conclusion from behavior that can lead to an unjust conclusion.
When he grows in wisdom, he will breach the bounds of his limitations and his experience will produce righteous vision. As he expands to greater heights, he will gain secular knowledge from the educational system and spiritual knowledge and wisdom from his place of worship. His ever expanding vision will never be impeded by boundaries which limits his progress, because wisdom that comes from God has no limit!