No Ordinary Days

Do your children trust you? When you promise them you'll go on a bike ride, do you mean it? When you give them 10 seconds to come to you, do you continue counting to 11, 12, 13 before you really get serious? Actions such as these undermine the level of trust our children have in the durability of our word. They also create an environment that breeds disobedience, and worse, makes them less likely to confide in you in the future. In a world that is constantly lying to them, shouldn't we be among those that never would?

The principle of authority is pretty important to a parent. We appeal to it frequently to steer our children into compliance. If we had no authority, how would we ever get them to clean up after themselves or settle spats between them and their siblings? But do we, as parents, truly understand this authority we possess? Who gave it to us? What are its bounds? How is it properly used? The answers we give to these questions will not only determine our children's ability to respect our authority, but our ability to respect it as well.

The world grows more chaotic by the day. At some point we need to step back and ask why. Why this growing frustration, and anger and disillusionment? The simple answer is that we're growing increasingly more bold in our transgression of the fundamental laws and principles that undergird our existence. The more we repudiate the truths that exist in the heart of God and that are intended to govern our thoughts and actions, the more devastating the consequences. These consequences can be felt at every level. They can be felt by the mother or father who insist on coercing their children into obedience through fear and intimidation and they can be (or will be) felt by the politician who wields their limited authority as a bludgeon in their perilous pursuit of power.

The most important jobs in the world have the most stringent requirements and demanding qualifications, right? Well, if we're talking about traditional jobs, yes. What about being a mother or a father? In that case the answer is no. In fact there really are no up front requirements to becoming a parent - no detailed job description. Regardless of qualifications or prior experience jut about anyone can "accept" this job and in many cases people do so without ever making a formal application. How can this be?! The answer to that question has everything to do with the "CEO" overseeing the hiring process and His grand design in "hiring" us and the work he has called us to perform.

What should you allow your children to watch? And when? This is a question that many parents struggle with. Sometimes we introduce a new video too soon, only to discover that it has effectively blocked off the the show or the movie they had watched previously. You've lead them to new and exciting ground and the old ground (show) no longer interests them. But despite the errors in judgement we often make, above all we must make sure that our children do not travel through the media landscape alone. We must do our best to not only guide them, but equip them with the discernment they need to detect negative influences on their own.