{"id":870,"date":"2010-01-25T11:36:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T16:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=870"},"modified":"2010-01-25T11:36:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-25T16:36:00","slug":"a-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=870","title":{"rendered":"A Challenge&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Here&#8217;s the thing&#8230; as parents we want the best for our kids. &nbsp;We want them to be happy,well rounded, and carefree. &nbsp;We want their childhoods to be simple, safe and special. &nbsp;We want them to have friends. &nbsp;We want them to have memories of secrets with their buddies, sleepovers and share great times.<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/S13T3slNjYI\/AAAAAAAAC1Y\/uaNuSVmSuDk\/s1600-h\/DSC_0342.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" height=\"628\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/S13T3slNjYI\/AAAAAAAAC1Y\/uaNuSVmSuDk\/s640\/DSC_0342.JPG\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">What about the child that does not have this? &nbsp;I have heard this week alone, of parents that told their child not to be friends with so and so. &nbsp;Not of any reason then what is made up in their heads.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Josh has already come home saying that this kid doesn&#8217;t like so and so&#8230; and this is from the parents.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">In JK they are learning already to be exclusive and intolerant.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">What happens to a child that suffers this loneliness all throughout school? &nbsp;That sucks! <\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">In 8th grade, when they graduate, do you think that they are leaving their childhood behind with warm fuzzy feelings? <\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">It makes me sad. &nbsp;I wonder how adults can live with that. &nbsp;It is something that we know is wrong.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">I try so hard to teach my children that &nbsp;when someone is odd, different, hard to understand, many times, it isn&#8217;t their fault. &nbsp;We live in an age where there are some many diagnosis&#8217;, where many can fall under a wide spectrum of various issues. &nbsp;This is a child that needs to be included&#8230; even if it is hard.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Do you really think that someone wants to be different, difficult and friendless?<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">I hate when parents instruct the child to not play with someone. &nbsp;I hate when someone puts themselves better than another.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">I am really struggling with this. &nbsp;I struggle with this as an adult. &nbsp;Just because there are hard people, needy people, that may annoy or suffocate&#8230; these are folks that Jesus would love. &nbsp;These are people that Jesus would choose to hang out with. &nbsp;To share a cup of tea with someone, to give a half an hour of your time&#8230; you&#8217;d be amazed how good you feel not to mention what a gift you just gave someone else.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">I realize that maybe I am rambling&#8230; and I am sorry. &nbsp;I just have this thought and am not sure how to express it. &nbsp;I think that if we each just loved those that are hard to love&#8230; it may be &nbsp;surprising what comes out of that.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Here&#8217;s my challenge&#8230;. This week, &nbsp;include one person, that we may not normally chose to hang out with&#8230; spend a half an hour&#8230; &nbsp;and then share that experience&#8230; let&#8217;s see what happens.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Thoughts&#8230; don&#8217;t worry about what to chat about, they usually will talk&#8230; just ask a couple of questions&#8230;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">&#8220;How was your weekend?&#8221; &nbsp;or &nbsp;&#8220;How was your day off with the kiddies?&#8221;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Are you in?<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the thing&#8230; as parents we want the best for our kids. &nbsp;We want them to be happy,well rounded, and carefree. &nbsp;We want their childhoods to be simple, safe and special. &nbsp;We want them to have friends. &nbsp;We want them &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=870\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}