Freshwater

Located in the wilds of Wyoming, the name Freshwater was chosen as a Western analogy to Christ. Just as He is the Living Water, and we must have Him to have eternal life, any desert dweller knows the importance of fresh water to life, both for self, and the nourishment of crops or livestock. By taking nourishment in God and His word, we strengthen our own relationship with Him, our faith, and the quality and abundance of our fruitfulness.

Our keystone verse is from Jeremiah, Chapter 17, Verse 8: "For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see whenSave heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."

The fruit that we speak of is mentioned in Galatians 5:22
"22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

And the heat could be anything we experience that might test our faith in God; trials and tribulations, relationships, anything that focuses our love and attention anywhere but on Him...

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Reading is Controversial?

I had to share a little from one of my CafeMom replies this morning.  I went to one of my groups, to see that a post called "Reading" had been added to the "Controversial Topics" Group.  Trying to figure that one out, I opened the post, and began to read.  The poster theorized that reading is a totally unnecessary skill that people don't really need to have, that it causes stress and stated "learning to read is a painful, humiliating and unnecessary experience for a significant proportion of people."  


This is my reply:


When I saw this post, I was trying to figure out how Reading could be a Controversial topic.  Of course, then I thought of the ongoing battles between "Whole Language", "Phonics", "Sight Words",  "Balanced Literacy"...
I never thought about Reading being dismissed completely as an unnecessary skill.  I believe that Reading is an integral life skill, and I can't imagine being without it.  Yes, I can see where it can elicit frustration if children are pushed beyond their readiness, or forced into a "learning box", but I think everyone needs at least some functional knowledge of reading skills and strategies.  Even if you don't read for enjoyment, there are just some times when you might really need to know what's going on!  What about reading a map?  Or reading signs ...traffic signs, directions signs, street signs...signs in airports, restaurants, shopping malls, banks...How do you pay your bills if you can't read a billing statement?  How do you know how much money you have in the bank or balance your checkbook, write checks or money orders, etc?  
When I was a little girl, my dad traveled all over the state for work.  I went everywhere with him, especially in the summertime, but there were a lot of times that my mom went too, and we enjoyed the time together as a family.  I remember one trip in particular.  I don't remember where we were, but we were staying in a little motel in a little town somewhere in Wyoming.  Mom and I stayed in the room, or in the play area at the hotel, or walked down the street to the library every day, then spent the evenings with Dad when he was finished in the field. 
There was a Country Kitchen or similar restaurant right next to our hotel, and we would walk over there for supper each night.  One night, there was a man in the restaurant, who ordered a country fried steak.  But the restaurant didn't serve country fried steak.  He was really embarassed, but we got to visiting, and it turned out that he ordered country fried steak in every restaurant, because he couldn't read the menu, and it was something that most of them had.  My folks helped him figure out what was on the menu, and he asked my mom if she would teach him to read while we were there that week, because he hated not knowing how and having things like that happen, or having to ask for help all the time.  I remember sitting at a table outside our room looking at the newspaper with him, playing reading games, and helping him learn some of the basics.  I don't remember the man's name, I have no idea what he looked like, but that story has stuck with me for over 30 years, because it was such an important lesson to me about the importance of Reading.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, that makes me so sad. Of course reading is an important and intergral part of society. How else can we share ideas, lessons, and needs effectivly?
    What's sad to me is that this poster obviously struggled to learn to read. Why not advocate for earlier and more meaningful intervention for low level readers instead?

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  2. I agree completely! Very well said!

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