"If I had never been offended, I would never have gotten saved."
A dear friend told me this recently. And I was impacted by it.
Also I had a dream. It was a weird and funny dream, but I also thought it might have been a God dream.
In my dream I was on a talk show, I thought the 700 Club, being interviewed for having a lot of kids, and they were asking something to the effect of, are you trying to compete with the Duggars? And my answer was that I honor the Duggars, that I think they are amazing and graced by God for the role they play in our nation, and that we are simply a humbler, less organized, less photo ready, less populous family - that we let people know that having lots of kids is great even if you don't have your act together. Something like that. Then after the show, or between shows, the Duggars were at my parents house, and she was sweet and full of compassion towards us.
I felt like I need to let my little light shine, so to speak. I love people who live what they believe. I love seeing people's convictions walked out. I have strong convictions about some things that I walk out with a measure of integrity. I have others that I walk out with a measure of flakiness. And I have others that I wish I walked out but just don't. Yet.
So, as I write about my convictions, please know that you needn't read it, and that if you do, you need to hear God and follow Him. I daren't put a yoke on you that He has not. But at the same time, I feel convicted about NOT sharing what God has done/is doing in my life, and my feeble efforts at following, and the budding fruit I see when I obey.
All that is pretty much a disclaimer.
Counter-cultural part 2.
On facebook the other day I found myself in a conversation with complete strangers (isn't facebook wonderful that way?) wherein my friend who I know well was asking all her friends that I don't know at all for help in selecting a movie for her daughter's 80's slumber party. Of the several movies suggested, I had seen all of them at some point. Most of them I saw when I was older than the 9-12 age bracket she was dealing with. Only a couple of them could I endorse for my or other people's children.
I guess everybody's brain is not like mine. We don't all remember what we watch and hear with the same clarity, for better or for worse. We aren't all impacted as deeply by what we watch and listen to. For example, I love the movie The American President. Except that when I watch it, I change my entire world view and for that 2 hours and the time following, I become a liberal Democrat, believing in gun control and sex outside marriage. Acht! And there are snippets of shows I've seen, over the years, that are forever burned in my memory, causing me to stumble, ready sin just lurking around the corner.
Because this is true, and I know it is true, I watch almost no tv, very few movies, and am pretty hyper about what I let my children watch. Not as hyper as some. Probably not as hyper as I should be. But hyper, nonetheless. To the point that, during this facebook conversation, I found myself horrified at the suggestions offered, and got all riled up, having to bite my virtual tongue, so as not to offend.
But should I have? Should I have just offended? Am I salty and lighty enough?
I don't want to be a part of inserting scenes and words and worldviews into anyone's memory banks that become a foothold for the enemy later. I don't want to mar the page of anyone's memory with crud they have to repent of and renounce and deal with for their whole life. And I'm tired of it in my mind. So I will be outspoken for the sake of purity of what we see and what we hear, even if I am not perfect in this area - far from it.
What are we watching? What are we listening to? What are we depositing in our spirits? What are we allowing our children to watch? What deposits are strangers who do not share our principles or worldview making into our children's minds and hearts?
Are they being trained by what they watch to believe romance is appropriate for 11 and 12 year olds? Are they being trained by what they see to believe that the earth is billions of years old and the Bible is just another theory? Are they learning that siblings are brats and friends are way more important than family? Are they being trained to think that having stuff and looking cool is what makes a person valuable? These are just examples. You have to guard your mind and heart. You have to guard the minds and hearts of those entrusted to you.
It's so easy to be a lazy parent regarding the tv. It's so easy to let Barney be the nanny. But we are abdicating our precious God-given role if we allow strangers to disciple our children. And we are training their brains and spirits for lesser things.
I am preserving a generation of those who have not bowed the knee. It makes me weird. And that's ok.
(Ironic post script: daughter #2 just came up and described a scene from a tv show they had watched via netflix that I knew nothing about and had not given permission to watch, at least not that I remember. Yeah. I have a long way to go.)
1 comment:
I rarely comment, but this blog brought something out that I wanted to share: My parents were very strict with what I was allowed to watch as a child. Of course, as I got older, I got "sneaky" about viewing certain things, but even on my own, I still kept things in check in comparison to others my age. When my biological father tried to come back in the picture, he had no such filters, and my mother regularly had to comfort the nightmares I'd have after visits. Friends that were my age were watching whatever they wanted, and I think there is a sensitivity that they were lacking. I think it jades young hearts and spirits, and forces children to grow up too fast. I am thankful that my parents were so strict, in retrospect (although I didn't really get it back then, and certainly gave my mother a lot of grief!). Shield them as long as you can. You're saving their hearts for eternity. :)
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