Most Important Thing

The Annual Spelling Bee is a remarkable thing. Each year it never ceases to amaze me how many different words our English language has. Different questions from the participants excite the competition. Questions like "What is the origin? What part of speech is it? What is the definition?" These all, in some way, help these scholars to decipher the spelling of each word. How much time and effort must go into this. Each young person displays a vast knowledge of etymology and vocabulary, way beyond even the average person. 

If I was given an opportunity to be involved in one of these competitions I would easily fail. Once six and seven letter words were given I would become quite challenged and be defeated. These young people however are not only getting most of the spelling of these obscure words correct, they do so in front of many, and under extreme pressure.

 To quote a Yahoo news story of the day:

 "Among the spectators was Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, who kicked off the championship rounds by telling of a bout with nerves that caused her to drop out of a sixth-grade spelling contest.

'I know that confidence is the most important thing you can give a child,' she told the audience."

I think it is wonderful that the wife of the second highest ranking official in our land would attend one of these championships. So many times emphasis is placed on sports and other achievements that do not really matter intellectually or even long-term. But I do take offense when she speaks to these group of people and says something that is completely false. The day in which we live we need truth to be proclaimed, not lies. 

CONFIDENCE is the MOST IMPORTANT THING you can give your child??? If this was true, I could teach my child to be a good thief and liar, not to be worried about being caught, but to be confident in her abilities to NOT get caught. 

So this does raise the question, what IS the most important thing I can give my child? I believe it is plain and simple, TRUTH. Truth can never be debated because it is always true, it never changes. True truth is the same for everyone. For instance, I live in the United States of America. This is truth and cannot be debated because it is truth. My children, our children, do not need to learn how to build themselves up, they need the truth of who they are. Many in society today are eagerly trying to build others up around them. to help them feel confident in their life. I submit to you though that this is incorrect and actually the basis of failure. We are just building our house on sand and not on the firm reality of truth, which are the rocks in our life.

It does not suffice for us to build up the next generation, we have done that in our country for at least the last two generations and look what we have to show for it, nothing. It boils down to the fact that people are more concerned with building themselves up instead of obeying the simple truths that our nation was founded on. Is it by accident that each of our 50 states Constitutions have God mentioned in the first paragraph? I think not, that is because not so long ago, people realized what truth really is, it is not building up ourselves to make us a great nation, but it is obeying the truth that is clearly given to us by God and His Holy Word. It is not building confidence in ourselves that we need, it is building our confidence in the ONE and only True God that all of us need to strive for!