Entertain ME

     Have you heard the alarming news?  An epidemic of monstrous proportions is sweeping across the country, even as your eyes scan over the bold type of this page, it is increasing in severity.  It is the disease of "entertainment" and many children are experiencing severe symptoms accompanied by concerning side effects.  Worse yet, although it was once thought to be a childhood illness, it has been found to travel to adults as well.

     Do you know of what I am speaking?  Have you seen some of the symptoms in your home? 

     The early warning signs are exhibited through whining and complaining with sporadic use of the "B" word (bored).  But as the condition goes untreated its effects become more severe: refusal to help around the house, addiction to electronic games and toys, extended time watching television, inability to venture outside four walls, complete loss of interest in the Bible and church . . . on and on the list goes.

     You may think I'm simply attempting humour but I'm not.  This is an attempt to draw your attention to something I feel is of prodigious proportions . . . our children are being pulled towards an intense vaccuum labelled "ENTERTAIN ME" and beyond that suction entry point is a deep dark hole from which it is very hard to return.

     Never before have our children been less "needed" when it comes to responsibilties in real life.

     Never before have there been so many ways to relax, play and consume.

     Never before have we, as parents, felt at such a loss for the right way to go.

     How the Disease Grows:

1. Children are not required to help around the house or contribute to those around them
2. Children are not monitored for reasonable amounts of electronic games, movies & TV
3. Children are left to their own schedules, not incorporated into family life
4. Children are allowed to muddle at a lower standard and are not called to God's standard
5. Children are permitted to believe they are THE WORLD instead of only a part of the world

    
     Part of the Cure:

1. Find ways for each child to know they are a necessary part of the home and community you live in -- responsibilities with meals, clean up, yard work, visiting shut-ins, making cookies for a neighbour, helping a sibling, etc...
2. Don't be soft on media-- if you have game systems and televsions then be SURE you know what they are playing and watching, and set allotted times and STICK TO IT -- lack of consistency often lies more in the parent than the child
3. Prayfully look at your days and weeks, then set a rhythm and routine that incorporates the BIG ROCKS first (read more here from a previous post -- Begin with the End)
4. Stay firm on the standards that God has placed in His Word and expect each child to do the same -- it is too easy to look at the "Joneses" and assume our kids are fine with medicore
5. Gently show each child that they are precious but God has placed many other people around them that they can love and serve, and be sure as the parent that you place your relationship with God and your spouse as high priority

      This isn't meant to be a list of rules -- can do's and can't do's -- that's not how God works! 

     But as parents, we need to be very aware and vigilant of how serious this problem is . . . many frustrated organizations report young adults can't hold down jobs because they are up half the night playing video games, mothers soberly whisper of daughters who act as if no one else in this world matters but them, and fathers break down in tears because they have lost the opportunity to mold their sons.

     We need to realize that the small things we do now with our children will enable them to do big things later when they are adults.  Most importantly, we must see that God has called us to train up our children in the way they should go and that begins NOW, not next week.

"I raised you up for this very

purpose, that I might display

My power in you and that

My name might be proclaimed

in all the earth."

Romans 9:17



     

Motivation Urgently Needed

      I will never cease to be amazed how God can use His living and active Word to speak fresh motivation into my life, especially on tough days!  

     Do you ever get "those" days?  Days where it feels like the low road beckons to you like a box of sweet chocolates and the high road seems boarded up like an old red barn?  Days where the effort required to deal with the issues at hand is so HUGE that it could make you think of an ant attempting to carry a watermelon? 

     Maybe that is what Albert Einstein was thinking of, when he stated, "One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved.  One must develop an instinct for what one can barely achieve through ones greatest efforts." 

     An instinct for what one can BARELY achieve . . .  many of my days can feel that way!

     So, how did God speak to me on one of "those" days? 

     He revealed a verse from Proverbs 29:15 that says, "A child left to himself disgraces his mother." 

     That may not strike you as enough to change your day around on a dime . . . but it was mine!  What impacted me most was that it spoke to ME -- I'm a mother!  So often the proverbs speak to fathers and they can still apply to us as moms, but look out -- when God is speaking right to mothers, we should have both ears wide open.

     But back to the verse -- isn't that what we naturally WANT to do on difficult days?  Just leave the child to himself or herself?  Absolutely!

     Especially when the day has been long and hard.  But isn't it interesting that the consequence is given to us, not the child?  The verse says it is the mother who will be disgraced. 

     In the very moment I read this verse, I felt called back to God's standard of continuing to press in, as opposed to walking out the world's standard which could be defined as "letting kids be kids" or "don't worry, they'll grow out of it".

     In almost 14 years of parenting five different personalities I have yet to find ONE discipline issue that has magically disappeared because I've ignored it.  In fact, my experience is that molehills become mountains when I leave one of my children to themselves. 

     So moms -- press in!  Would we not rather be found faithful and a little battle weary with our children close to our hearts, than to be well rested and disgraced by them? 

     I love what Sally Clarkson shares on her blog, and I quote:  "Motherhood is a long journey, a hard and challenging journey, that will require much endurance with grace, much forgiveness, much patience and just a whole lot of energy expended."  How true.

     God NEVER tells us to do something that isn't for our very best -- so why question the wisdom found in the Word?  God calls us to correct our children and not leave them to their own demise.  May God's words of truth be your urgently needed motivation to continue on the road less traveled.

"Her children arise and

call her blessed!" 

Proverbs 31:28