SM Minute—A Scout is Reverent

Scoutmaster Minute—A Scout is Reverent

A Scout is reverent.  A Scout is reverent toward God.  He is faithful in his religious duties.  He respects the beliefs of others.

Sometimes we overlook the 12th and final point of the Scout Law.  How a Scout is reverent is between him, his family and his relationship with God.  My relationship with God is different than yours.  Some of us attend church every week.  Some of us celebrate God’s grace in the great outdoors.  What is important is that every Scout is reverent towards God, in his own way.

When we go camping, we have a Scout’s Own service like we did at last weekend’s Camporee.  This is not meant to replace your church duties.  It simply recognizes that a Scout is reverent and shares our different religious traditions.

A Scout is reverent, yet we also respect the many different ways each of us is reverent all around the world.

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SM Minute—A Scout is Clean

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Scoutmaster Minute—A Scout is Clean

A Scout is clean. A Scout keeps his body and mind fit.  He chooses friends who also live by high standards.  He avoids profanity and pornography.  He helps keep his home and community clean.

Last meeting, we talked about how a Scout is Brave; about how it takes bravery to stand up to people at school you consider your friends.

In the same way that a Scout who is brave reacts in an emergency, a Scout who is clean stays clean—he washes his hands and clothes.  Nobody wants to sit next to a stinky scout!

Yet in the same way a Scout who is brave stands up to peer pressure, a Scout who is clean stands up for what it means to be a Scout—he is clean in body and in mind.  He picks his friends carefully.  He is proud to be a Scout, and if people don’t like that well that’s their problem, not ours.

That doesn’t mean anybody is asking you to be a “goody two-shoes”.  But when you say you want to be a Scout, you are saying you are proud to “do your best”.  To me, it takes more bravery for a Scout to be Clean than to simply be brave.

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On a similar note, remember Mike Rowe’s take on this point of the Scout Law:  A Scout is Clean…except when he’s dirty.  It’s a doozy!