Acceptance

Acceptance

Joey and Carla Link

August 7, 2019

A young teen was pitching in a baseball game. If a pitch did not go over the plate, he got frustrated with himself. If a batter hit the pitch for a fair ball, he physically got mad at himself, hitting his leg in disappointment with his glove. In talking with his coach, he said this boy is his own worst enemy.

How well does your child accept:

• Disappointment
• Compliments
• Suggestions
• Criticism

If your children don’t learn to accept life’s circumstances, how will they accept God’s plan and purpose for their life if it is different than their own?

All kids will go through disappointment phases in their lives, but do they learn and grow from them, or do they get down on themselves from the circumstances they think were their fault or think they could have somehow made them better?

This would be a great discussion for your child who struggles with this on your next lunch date with your kids.Ask some of the following questions using a recent circumstance.

1. What was most frustrating about what happened to you?
2. What could you have changed or done differently to avoid what happened?

• Worked harder?
• Studied more for a test they got a bad grade on?
• Worked to remember what they forgot and as a result got in trouble for?

3. Was it unavoidable?
4. Did you encourage someone else who did their best?
5. Can you accept that you did your best and it is good enough?

Why is it so important for kids to learn to accept what happens to them? If they can’t accept the good things they get in life graciously or accept the bad things that happen to them, how will they ever accept God’s will for their lives if it’s different from their plans? If they can’t accept what happens to them, then they will struggle with what God gives them to go through for them to learn to bring Him glory through their life and circumstances. Every Christian goes through tough circumstances to learn what God wants to teach us through them. (James 1:2)

For this baseball pitcher, he needs to realize he needs to spend more time working on his craft, and less time on video gaming in his free time if he wants to be a successful pitcher.

He also needs to learn the art of praising someone else for doing a good job. If someone hit his best pitch, he did his best and he needs to tip his hat to him, accepting that a very good batter did something just a little bit better than he did, and that is okay too.

I had a friend growing up who was born with one normal arm and one that was a short arm with two fingers. My Dad taught him to play baseball with his physical deformity. He worked hard choosing not to let this disability set him back. He worked with his body to take the ball out of his glove with 2 fingers dropping his glove as an outfielder transferring the ball from his two fingers to throw. He worked so hard he became the starting right fielder and leadoff batter for our 4A high school baseball team.

My friend James accepted how God made him and was able to bring glory to God through his body and life. What do your kids need to learn to accept to bring glory to God through their lives?