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Thursday, July 12, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Basic Human Needs
Basic Human Needs:
Every human is born into the world with certain needs: physical (food, clothing, shelter, etc.), mental (education), spiritual. Everyone also has needs of the heart which are just as important as the others but often misunderstood or neglected.
What are these needs? a. Love Everyone needs to feel they are loved. Often parents try to show love by meeting material needs, but this alone isn't enough to communicate the love God wants us to learn from our parents.
There are different ways in which love needs to be communicated.
• Through words - Children can know they are loved by hearing words of kindness, praise and appreciation. In many cultures, however, it is difficult for parents to say, "l love you", "I'm proud of you". Either they feel embarrassed or fear they would spoil their children if they expressed their love in such ways. The absence of sweet words can have just as negative an effect as bad words (Pr 12:18; 15:4; 18:21; 28:21). God is never reluctant to say, "I love you"! We are His treasured possession (Dt7:6).
• Through affection - God also created us with a need to receive physical affection. Again this can be difficult in some cultures except in the case of very young children either because of embarrassment or fear of it taking on sexual connotations. This is very sad because we all need hugs.
• Through meaningful time spent together - A father or mother who takes time to listen to, play with, or just be with their child communicates, "You're important to me", "You are worthy of my time and attention." A message of importance and worth is communicated to a child when interest is shown to him. It is especially important for church leaders to show love to their children. Often the children get neglected because the people in church get their attention. It's hard for the child to feel important when he feels, "My father gives time to everyone but me."
• To be credible, the above expressions of love need to be backed up by the provision of the physical and mental needs.
b. Security Every child needs to know the world into which they were born is a safe place to live. Quite often, children can feel insecure through: - lack of love between their parents; when parents love one another there is peace in the home - being abused by their parents in some way or parents making excessive demands on them - disease or death in the family - extreme poverty - conflict in the family or community Children need to know their parents are there to protect them from harm. A sensed of security also comes when children know that adults in the community are making sure life is safe for them.
c. Significance and Purpose Every person needs to know that their life has a purpose and value even if they are handicapped in some way. Every child needs to know they have something to contribute to the world and that the world is an enriched place because they are there; something would be missing if they weren't there. Our value is in who we are in God and not in what we do or don't do. God has a purpose for every life. When there is conflict in a nation, society robs us of all these things. Some people are already traumatised because of their childhood experiences even before they got exposed to a national conflict.
Lacks
Even though God planned for everyone to have their needs met, it doesn't always happen. Parents are also wounded and maybe they can't or don't know how to meet the needs of the children. Lacks in any of the above areas can damage us as much as a traumatic experience. Often we don't realise it, thinking that our lives were 'normal'. God, however, understands our need for healing.
Every human is born into the world with certain needs: physical (food, clothing, shelter, etc.), mental (education), spiritual. Everyone also has needs of the heart which are just as important as the others but often misunderstood or neglected.
What are these needs? a. Love Everyone needs to feel they are loved. Often parents try to show love by meeting material needs, but this alone isn't enough to communicate the love God wants us to learn from our parents.
There are different ways in which love needs to be communicated.
• Through words - Children can know they are loved by hearing words of kindness, praise and appreciation. In many cultures, however, it is difficult for parents to say, "l love you", "I'm proud of you". Either they feel embarrassed or fear they would spoil their children if they expressed their love in such ways. The absence of sweet words can have just as negative an effect as bad words (Pr 12:18; 15:4; 18:21; 28:21). God is never reluctant to say, "I love you"! We are His treasured possession (Dt7:6).
• Through affection - God also created us with a need to receive physical affection. Again this can be difficult in some cultures except in the case of very young children either because of embarrassment or fear of it taking on sexual connotations. This is very sad because we all need hugs.
• Through meaningful time spent together - A father or mother who takes time to listen to, play with, or just be with their child communicates, "You're important to me", "You are worthy of my time and attention." A message of importance and worth is communicated to a child when interest is shown to him. It is especially important for church leaders to show love to their children. Often the children get neglected because the people in church get their attention. It's hard for the child to feel important when he feels, "My father gives time to everyone but me."
• To be credible, the above expressions of love need to be backed up by the provision of the physical and mental needs.
b. Security Every child needs to know the world into which they were born is a safe place to live. Quite often, children can feel insecure through: - lack of love between their parents; when parents love one another there is peace in the home - being abused by their parents in some way or parents making excessive demands on them - disease or death in the family - extreme poverty - conflict in the family or community Children need to know their parents are there to protect them from harm. A sensed of security also comes when children know that adults in the community are making sure life is safe for them.
c. Significance and Purpose Every person needs to know that their life has a purpose and value even if they are handicapped in some way. Every child needs to know they have something to contribute to the world and that the world is an enriched place because they are there; something would be missing if they weren't there. Our value is in who we are in God and not in what we do or don't do. God has a purpose for every life. When there is conflict in a nation, society robs us of all these things. Some people are already traumatised because of their childhood experiences even before they got exposed to a national conflict.
Lacks
Even though God planned for everyone to have their needs met, it doesn't always happen. Parents are also wounded and maybe they can't or don't know how to meet the needs of the children. Lacks in any of the above areas can damage us as much as a traumatic experience. Often we don't realise it, thinking that our lives were 'normal'. God, however, understands our need for healing.
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