“I’m not eating that,” my eldest daughter said, glancing into the soup bowl filled half-way with dirty water. I realized in that moment that my daughters really don’t trust my cooking.
“That’s not dinner!” I laughed.
They were both relieved.
I had purposely timed a Bible study lesson that week to coincide with me prepping our meal to make the point of the lesson more effectively. The bowl of dirty water was not on the menu.
As they settled down around the kitchen table, I showed my daughters two brand new clean sponges. “I want you to pretend these are your brains,” I said. “Imagine these are your brains, ready to soak up whatever you put in them.”
While they watched, I filled a second soup bowl with fresh, clean tap water. I talked about what we absorb in the course of our day through TV shows, songs, discussions with friends, words we hear people use, or things we read. All day long we are delivered messages. We had spoken the previous week about how we needed a shield to protect our core values. We use that shield not to keep others at a distance, I reminded them, but to protect ourselves and our standards, our moral code and our world view.
“If your brain is this sponge, it will soak up everything you expose it to,” I said.
“What’s in that dirty water?” one of them asked, concerned. “Dirt from the yard,” I answered. “Yuck!” came the response.
“Don’t worry,” I said casually, knowing the best gross-out was yet to come later in the lesson, “I’ll hand wash it and put it through the dishwasher and get it clean again.”
“You’re not going to put that brand new sponge in that dirty water, are you?” asked my youngest, obviously doubting that I would waste a new sponge.
“I am,” I answered, “because it represents you, in your youth and innocence. Before you are tainted by things in the world you shouldn’t see or hear.” They were shocked mom would waste a new sponge — they leaned in, appearing to pay closer attention.
“So, here are your dinner dishes,” I continued, “your glasses, forks, salad bowls and pasta bowls. Pretend they are your body, soul, and future … the parts of you that make up who you are.
“If I dip these sponges in the two different bowls … ” I said as I dunked one in the clean water and the other in the dirty water.
“Ewww!” “Yuck … gross,” were the reactions across the table, as the sponge came out of the mucky water bowl, caked in dirt.
“… which sponge would you want me to use to wash your dinner dishes?”
Giving me a look that said “Mom-my-answer-is-clear-as-muddy water” they both pointed to the clean-water bowl.
“Sure, of course. But, keep in mind, you are listening to and watching a lot of things that you don’t realize are influencing you. It isn’t always obvious.”
Then I explained that what they didn’t know was that the dirty water was filthy before I added the dirt. I didn’t get that water out of the faucet, I told them. It came out of the toilet bowl. A flushed toilet bowl, but one that still had hidden bacteria and filth you couldn’t see but could make you sick.
If I really wanted to gross them out, I could’ve done this in another more shocking fashion — put the toilet water in the apparently “clean” bowl to better make my point that it isn’t always so obvious what thoughts are infiltrating our minds. Sometimes things that appear to be acceptable actually aren’t. Bad messages can slip in under the radar if we aren’t paying careful attention and using our personal shield of standards and wise judgment.
The girls seemed to get the message and were relieved to see the new dirty sponge go into the trash and the dirty bowl be washed multiple times … by me … and put into the dishwasher.
“That was pretty creative … and sickening,” my youngest said later.
I’m not a prude. Not by any stretch of the imagination. My kids have probably seen some shows that would offend some adults. However, I know what they watch and I try to put it into context. Still, I can’t guard their hearts and minds 24/7 so I need them to use their own filter. They need to be alert and aware, setting good standards for themselves.
I told them if they feel they’ve soaked up some bad messages they need to admit it, be accountable, and resolve to squeeze those thoughts out like they would a sponge, rinsing their minds clean with pure and good thoughts, from scripture and other uplifting messages.
We all need to remember that what goes in, comes pouring or dribbling out and washes over everything in our life. Makes sense that, no matter what your religion or belief system, it’s best to focus your mind on good stuff rather than stuff you wouldn’t want used to wash your dishes, much less your brain.
Jaletta Albright Desmond is a self-syndicated columnist. Contact her at jdesmond@bdtonline.com
Columns
March 12, 2010
Children can easily soak up bad messages from society
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