DAILY ENTRY -- You've heard about fleas in a jar- what about childhood barriers

We've all heard trainers and speakers use the story about fleas in a jar. I heard it from the great Zig Ziglar. Zig says that if you put flees in a jar they will jump and jump and jump hitting their heads on the lid of the jar. Once they do this for so long they begin jumping a little less high. Before you know it their not hitting the lid anymore at all, they are just going through the motions. I wish the story ended there- just going through the motions. It would be a bad enough ending, but not quite as bad as the true ending to this little flea story. You see to finish this little experiment one would now remove the lid to the jar, and those poor fleas will not try to get out.

The have a new subconscious belief that tells them there is no use jumping anymore. You'll just fail and hit the lid, and hitting the lid hurts!

• You can try to reason with them but they'll stay.
• You can try to encourage them but they'll stay.
• You may even try to dump them out but they'll probably hand on for dear life.
• It's sad how barriers can program our paradigms.

I related this story to my children as I sat and prayed this morning. I was reading a few verses about perseverance in James 1:2-5, Hebrews 12:1, and Romans 5: 3-5. As I meditated on these verses and how they applied to my business and my life, I remembered Zig's story about the fleas. At about this time my children came downstairs with my wife into the kitchen and family room as they always do. My son Samuel ran into our baby gate which keeps them in or out of the family room while mommies cooking. Then I remembered how somtimes we can block our children in. We can put the lid on them. We can guard them too much. We can make them idols.

Then I remembered two things which gave me encouragement and laughter.

My daughter at the age of 16 months decided she'd had enough of her crib. When baby brother came home from the hospital the first night, she scaled the crib wall which had been her barrier to that point. She even showed daddy how she did it with a post walk through. I was horrified but proud. She needed a toddler bed now. She was hitting her head on the top of the jar and she broke through.

The same thing happened with my son except this happens more on a daily basis with him. Samuel will get a running start and barrel through any obstacles if the mood strikes him right. Baby gate, dog gate, curtain hanging in the door way, it really doesn't matter. He has respected the obstacles we've put in front of him and he will not try to breakthrough when we discipline him. The lid is on but he's banging through. I think I will take the determination and tenacity versus the compliance and passivity. Children will learn the latter naturally, and they will see it in most people they encounter in this life.

More on breaking through tomorrow: