No, I'm not going Sesame Street on you here ... at least not yet. I'll save the lesson Cookie Monster teaches us on temptation for another time.
This is about one of those times you read something and a word just jumps out you. In this case it was a quote from Charles Darwin and the word was "enfeebling". Darwin was describing how he no longer drew a sense of delight from things such as pictures, poetry and scenery.
"The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature."
What a great word -- enfeebling. To deprive of strength, make feeble. Causing debilitation.
How many times do we enfeeble ourselves? We think we're doing something important but we're so busy we enfeeble our relationships with others. ... We want to prove we're strong, we're tough but rather we enfeeble our emotions. ... We want to make a statement for God and in our zeal we enfeeble His ability to be seen.
It reminds me of this recent news story involving the Ohio teen attending a private Christian school that was suspended for going to the public school prom. And when it was over, he went on national talk shows, being hailed as a hero.
While both sides were claiming victory for their beliefs, there was no winner to be found. The school was painted as close-minded legalists and held up the Bible-thumping stereotype all the way. The boy and his stepdad/handler looked like publicity seekers who found a way to one-up those Puritanical school administrators.
And the God they all claimed to serve was enfeebled. Well, to be fair, God wasn't actually enfeebled, but his message was.
My challenge to you and to myself? Go and enfeeble no more.
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you forgot to mention the part when the step dad enfeebled himself when he walked out, without saying a word, in mid-interview on the Early Show on CBS.
ReplyDeletei'd add this (mere opinion, mind you). the school appeared enfeebled... appeared weak and debilitating by their lack of grace.
when teaching or disciplining students or peers we have to realize that we can't control how others behave or act outside of our guidance. at some point we have to trust that what they have learned will be put into practice... and hope that when they make mistakes, that they will fail forward, relying on God for strength.
the next question is this: who is at fault for the boys sudden attention: the boy, his handler or the media? some news outlet got wind of the story... maybe it was the local news or maybe the boy went to the local news. regardless, it got picked up via satellite and soon it was a world wide story. the rest is history. there is a reason the media love these kinds of stories... it's the 'man bites dog' story that keeps you watching.
now the school could have shown grace and there would have been no news story... or the boy could have dropped his request and been obedient, so as to comply with school rules, even if there was a gray area. neither did.
neither is perfect. both stood up for their beliefs. both wanted to be strong but both were enfeebled. in the end, in the eyes of the public, the boy will come out as the winner. in the eyes of God, i'd have to say that no one wins.
but as a result, chalk another one up for those crazy-fundy-christians! the world now has one more bad taste in its collective mouth. so that is why i put the burden on the school.
it's a good thing King David didn't go to that school.
and yet in the it's just plain silly. yet another thing to take the churches attention off the way of Jesus.
speaking of enfeebling. jon and kate from Jon and Kate Plus 8 (reality show on TLC)... well they are splitting up. both had affairs... and now the media is being blamed.
ReplyDeletethe crazy thing is, these 'man bites dog' stories are creeping closer and closer to headlining stories.
and the general public becomes even more enfeebled the more we consume the nonsensical madness.
Enfeebled. until yesterday i didn't even know of such a word. now i shall seek to find ways to use it in everyday conversation.