Love is the fulfillment of God’s law.
Romans 13:10
After my wife, Darla, graduated with her teaching degree, she went on to get a masters degree in the teaching of reading.
When we were first married, I would listen to people moan about children’s inability to read well. “The problem today,” they told me, “is that we don’t teach enough phonics.”
I was hooked on their argument, and felt it in the best interests of my wife’s career to inform her of this. “The problem today, honey,” I told her, “is that we don’t teach enough phonics.”
You will be shocked to learn that Darla thought I was talking outside my area of expertise. She believes that, while teaching phonics is important, the key to reading better is rooted in the concept called “Whole Language.”
“When we read,” she explains, “we see more than individual phonetic sounds. To read well, we must learn to see the whole: the entire word, the context.”
I don’t argue with her anymore. When our first child, Nikki, took a standardized reading exam in second grade, she was already reading at the college level.
You decide if Darla is right. Can you read the following paragraph?
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch stduy at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a wrod are. The olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe.
The problem with some people who try to be religious is that they see the details but not the context.
God told his people to rest on the Sabbath Day. What a cool deal. God not only thinks it’s important to work, but also important to relax.
The Jewish theologians, unfortunately, saw the commandment, but failed to see the reason for it. As a result, they created dozens and dozens of nitpicky rules. You couldn’t check your clothes for fleas, light a lamp to read, or put a false tooth back in your mouth. You couldn’t chew your fingernails. You could tie a knot – as long as it wasn’t a camel driver’s knot or a sailor’s knot. A midwife may not help deliver a baby on the Sabbath.
By the time the Bible experts finished their rules for the Sabbath, it was no longer a time of rest and relaxation – it was a hardship.
Have you ever thought of God’s commandments as a burden? As something that keeps you from enjoying life? Sometimes our problem is that we focus so closely on the rule that we fail to see the reason for it.
Wehn you setp bcak and veiw the wohle cnotxet, yul’ol dscvoer taht ervey cmmonad of God is smilpy the dfeniiton of lvoe.
(copyright 2012 Marty Kaarre)