We’ve become a community that places importance on face value or what’s on the outside. We place even more value on test scores and class ranking. It’s not about the person you are, but rather, what you become. You have to make something of yourself, for goodness sake!
We are currently raising children in a society that does absolutely whatever it takes to get a kid into a good college. Or rather, a prestigious one. We’re raising children in a society where the kids who work hard, study, and do “the right thing” can be pushed out of a spot they earned by someone who’s better at lining pockets. We have to raise children in a world where we want to tell them to keep their nose clean, hit the books, and do well. That it will pay off. Except, we live in a world where that’s not always true. It’s a world where so much value is placed on materialistic expectations that good grades and morals aren’t enough to get them ahead. They’ll be stepped on and over by the vultures who seek the top position and will pick the bones clean of anyone who gets in the way. That’s the world we’re living in!
If you missed the news about Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman lately, here’s what I’m talking about.
I desire to teach my girls to be kind, compassionate, and to turn the other cheek. Yet I am faced with the task of raising them amidst the polar opposite.
I try and tell them they’re beautiful on the inside and out. Society says your waist needs to be smaller, your butt needs to be bigger, and your lips need to be fuller. Here’s an ad for a waist-shaping corset!
I try and tell them to be a good friend, to help the helpless, to lend a hand. Society today tells them to step on people like stairs to reach the top.
I face the monumental task of raising my girls to be ethical and compassionate. I try and teach them how Jesus said the first would be last, and the last first. Yet they’re surrounded by a world that stands in opposition to that. They’re pressed in from all sides by a world that says there is no second place. If I was not so firm in my convictions I too might be swayed by the masses of parenting peers who place value on anything but what’s on the inside or loving others.
So if you’re just starting out on this parenting thing and you think the newborn/colicky period is the worst, I got news for you. You haven’t even scratched the [surface]. It’s not a certain age or phase, like terrible twos, threenado, or mean teens. It’s from now until the day you die. From the moment you put on the parenting badge of honor, you are responsible to raise a decent human being who is a positive influence [on] his/her peers. And not for any credit to themselves or even you. It’s to God’s glory that we as Christians must rise above the muck and mire of this world. We must teach our children the same. By example. And certainly not by cheating on college entrance exams or buying your admission.
