The most powerful ad our children will ever see…
It was there at the kitchen counter, debating LEGO sets and mosquito nets, when the reality struck me: I am the most powerful ad my children will ever see.
He had wanted to compile a wish list. But obscene price tags had frustrated his plans, and I could see his anxiety mount as we tried, again and again, to find a LEGO set for under $50. The brightness in his eyes dulled, eyebrows furrowed, his voice tight in frustration.
Finally, I drew the line.“We’re all done, Sweetie. This isn’t good; it’s making you upset and frustrated.”
“But I want to look!” He argued, jumping down from the stool.
“Looking at all of these things is making your heart greedy, and not content with what you have, and not grateful. You’re not happy…”
I thought for a moment, then lowered down on my knees, leveling my eyes with his. “Dutch, do you see me sitting on my computer and looking at things I want?”
He thought about this. “No.”
“No. Do you know why? Because when I start to sit on my computer and look at all the things I like but don’t have, it does the same thing to me. It makes my heart greedy, and then I’m not content with what I have, and then I’m not grateful. And then … I’m not happy.”
He was quiet. Slowly, his face changed.
I reached out my arms and he stepped in, leaning close into my hug. He looked up at me and smiled,
“I’m going to go play.”
And with that, he was gone, lost in the priceless world of imagination.
~
So why am I making such a big deal about consumerism? What exactly is consumerism, anyway? Consumerism is the social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in every-increasing amounts.
I recently watched a video where the regional VP of a well-known cosmetic company laughingly says,
“The great thing about this product is that it’s consumable. Every single morning, all those women wash all that product off their faces and right down the drain! We love that! We love thinking about that! It makes us so happy thinking about that! That means they keep coming back for more.”
Now, please understand: Not here throwing stones at cosmetic companies. I’m one of those women washing product off my face and down the drain! I consume coffee, mascara, and plenty of other non-essential items.
In fact, God created us as consumers. We consume oxygen, water, and food, in order to survive. In fact, He makes us consumers because He wants to be the Sustainer, the Provider. He created us to be dependent on Him, for our breath, for our life.
But the enemy loves to take good and tweak it. Pervert it. Warp it. He loves to take our very legitimate need to consume a few things, and twist it to make us obsessed:
We become consumed with consuming.
And so instead of being dependent on God, we are dependent on Amazon. Or Nordstrom. Or Groupon. Or Target. We dream about what we do not need, and consume more and more and more and more …
And they —our littles–are watching. They watch us more than any ads on TV. We may lament about the world “out there” but the culture is us. We are the culture! As Mark Twain said,
“The Public is merely a multiplied me.”
So, the question for us: What am I multiplying? Ken Wytsma writes,
“Wherever we are, and whatever we are doing, our lives are being broadcast. … All of us are exporting certain cultural values and assumptions, projecting them out into our neighborhoods, our country, and even distant parts of the world. … The question to ask ourselves, then, is, what is my life exporting?” (Pursuing Justice)
Nowhere is this more true than in our homes. Every day we advertise a certain life for our kids. Again, not boycotting iphones and eye-cream, just encouraging us all to live life wide awake, alert to the constant temptation to live as consumers instead of answering the call of Christ.
The call of His cross, and to the fullness of abundant life. Life lost and found.
{Thanks for reading.}
The greatest danger our children face…
They say that 90% of child abuse victims know their perpetrator.
Although we always warn our children against talking to strangers, it’s the people your child knows who pose the greatest threat. (Perhaps we should name them “familiars” and write children’s books teaching kids how to stay safe among those they know.)
Familiars are the most dangerous because we don’t see them as threats. We aren’t on guard against that which is commonplace in our lives.
~
It was a sunny afternoon when Dutch curled up on my lap. I told him I’d read to him, and to pick any book he wanted, so LEGO Star Wars was the choice. We read–series and set numbers and scenes until his little mind was filled with galactic thrills. He looked up, eyes bright with idea:
“Mommy, could we make a birthday wish list for me?”
I thought for a moment. His seventh birthday isn’t until December, but it seemed innocent enough to look around on Amazon and see what piqued his interest. I won’t set foot in a mall or a Toys R’ Us, but the laptop at the kitchen counter seemed easy enough.
“Ok, sure. Let’s look.”
Since he’d seen sets from the books, these were on the forefront of his mind. I began to type in the names: Anakin’s Jedi Interceptor. Click. The set popped up:
$240.00
Excuse me?!
We tried another one. $275.00 We tried a third. $180.00.
By now I was feeling sick. I explained to Dutch that all of these were way too expensive.
“Oh but we won’t buy them! Someone else will buy one for me, for my birthday.”
I looked into his innocent, bright, eager face. So, so much to explain. Where to begin?
I looked back at the computer and the answer was right in front of me. The tab right next to Amazon, still open from earlier in the morning:
World Vision Gift Catalog.
I clicked over.
Immediately the LEGOs and leggings and light-up toys were no longer. Back-to-school “must haves” were replaced by actual “must-haves”: Food, water, shelter. We looked into the face of a little boy, beaming, his arms around a goat. I watched Dutch’s face, thoughtful. He’s seen the site before, but this time I could see his eyes looking at the dollar signs attached to each item. We perused through the gift list, finding items equivalent in price to the LEGO sets. Without guilt, lecturing, or wagging my finger, we made some simple comparisons.
Someone could buy one LEGO set for Dutch, or a little boy could have a donkey, providing transportation and the ability to farm and make a living for his family. One LEGO set, or clothes for dozens of children. One LEGO set, or 20 bed nets so that little children his age would not die of malaria.
Did he love this little lesson? No. Of couse not. But he understood. He looked in my eyes,
“Ok, mommy. Let’s wait on the LEGO sets. Let’s not put them on my wish list.”
Am I a mean mommy? Maybe. Denying my children their basic American rights? Life, liberty and the pursuit of LEGOs? Perhaps. But I’d just read a bone-rattling chapter from Pursuing Justice and became convinced that the greatest danger, to my children, is not the danger of human trafficking, drugs, sex, or rock ‘n roll.
The greatest danger is the most familiar. Like the well-known perpetrator, the greatest threat to our children is the danger we allow them to embrace every day.
Consumerism.
Jesus said we cannot serve God and money. The thirst for money drives the marketing schemes which target our children and whet their little appetites for more … and more and more and more.
Christianity and consumerism cannot coincide. They are mutually exclusive. Oil and water. True Christianity breeds contentment. The American Dream mentality never stops striving for more.
Even our littlest children can understand the way of the cross. That life lost is life found. That it’s better to give than to receive. Why wait to teach these truths?
The sooner they know the secret of absolute surrender, the sweeter their lives will be.
Is this easy? No way. But we moms know nothing about parenting is easy. And besides, what they may lack in LEGOs, we will make up for in love.
What they lack in toys, we will make up for in time.
{Mamas unite! We CAN raise children who grow to follow Jesus and not every passing shiny thing that hits the market. I pray strength for you today as you run the marathon of parenting those littles. Thanks for reading.}
PS Just a friendly FYI that the amount of pesticides now doused on our children’s food has DOUBLED as of this week. Hold the soy! Read the labels! Thanks. 🙂
You were made to shine
She knows nothing but shining.
She twirls, head back, her laugh a waterfall, cascading, filling the room. I laugh too, holding her damp starfish hands in my own, twirling with her, jumping, dancing.
Unencumbered.
Right then, as I dance with Heidi, I feel how God intended us to feel. Wildly loved. Cherished. Beautiful. Uninhibited. Free. I listen to the song that’s playing, and a tear spills over, down my cheek, as I look at her and realize that her entire life will be filled with opportunities for that shining to be dimmed. Hidden. Shrouded.
Shrouded by shame.
After Eve sinned, she hid.
We’ve been hiding ever since.
She hid, rightly, because she had nothing but fig leaves to cover her marred image of God.
But we have the blood of Jesus Christ.
Shame was defeated at the cross.
Because sin was defeated at the cross.
Apart from sin we have nothing to be ashamed of. ”When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Meaning this: We need not walk in shame.
My shining daughter knows nothing of shame. She knows nothing of the cruelty of 10-year-old girls (and 32-year-old girls!). She knows nothing of abuse. And even though I call her my little bunny, someday someone will call her a beaver because of those precious, beautiful teeth.
The world will sling mud at us, that we know.
So will we walk in shame? Or will we shine?
I remember a few years ago Jeff and I attended attended an art unveiling in Bend. At the unveiling, we met the painter’s wife and two daughters. One daughter, a freshman in high school, had some birth defect which had misshapen one side of her face. However, when I met her, she just shined, beaming, welcoming me and oohing and ahing over Dutch, teasing that she wanted to be the president of his fan club, and wondering if she could marry him when he grew up. She stood tall and looked me in the eye, a glowing, beautiful, shining, utterly confident girl. She obviously knew this truth.
Whether or not we walk in shame depends entirely upon what we believe. About God. About ourselves. About the cross.
If the cross has covered all of our sin, we have nothing of which to be ashamed.
We can shine.
As Heidi and I continued to spin, dance, laugh, I prayed God’s mercy on my little girl, that she would shine His glory all her days. The song we were listening to? You were made to shineby the Sonflowerz. The dear girls I had the joy of ministering with several times last year. They wrote this song after talking to a 12-year-old girl who had been bullied and ridiculed by other girls, who had been walking in shame. It goes like this:
I won’t repeat what they said
They tore you down and broke your heart
The words resound in your head
And make you feel like nothing
I know you’re chosen for great things
Child of God, a work of art
Fancy clothes and diamond rings
will never match what you are worth
Hold on to the beauty inside of you
No one can take that awayYou were made to shine
A brilliant light to radiate His glory
You were made to shine
Its your life, its a new beginning
More than the stars in the night sky
You were made to shineNow is the time to stand your ground
Be the spark you’re meant to be
Let the glow of love abound
Show the dark its remedy
God’s love is the fire inside of you
No one can take that away
You were made to shineOh You were made to shine His glory
Oh You were made to shine
Oh You were made to shine His glory
Oh You were made, You were made
God’s love is the fire inside of you
No one can take that away
{UPDATE: I’m excited to announce the Sonflowerz’ new MADE TO SHINE kickstarter, tour, and pre-teen devotional going on right now. Please take a moment and check out this fabulous opportunity to support these beautiful girls.}
And now: I pray, sisters, you could believe Christ’s work on the cross to remove all shame, and walk in fullness and freedom today. Now, it’s time for you to go dance. Thanks, friends, for reading.
5 ways to cultivate creativity, for a life fully lived…
“All children are artists, and it is an indictment of our culture that so many of them lose their creativity, their unfettered imaginations, as they grow older.”
—Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water
~
We were neck-deep in The Story of the World history curriculum. The Kingfisher and Usborne encyclopedias were stacked high on my lap, the kids leaning in close, interrupting every other sentence with, “What’s that?” “Why did they do that?” “What does that word mean?” (Every lesson takes twice as long when the kids are actually learning something.) I glanced at the clock; I was way behind schedule for the morning. We had finished the lesson on archeology, when both kids jumped up off the couch, a surge of creativity lighting their eyes:
“I know! Mommy, can we do an archeology dig right now? Can we dig for clues about what people used to live like? And can we put all the clues together and make a book about it?!!”
I glanced down at the list of “school” left for the day and knew what the right answer was:
“Absolutely! Let’s go!”
Within two minutes they were dressed for adventure—bandanas, notebooks, magnifying glass. The rest of the afternoon was spent outside, digging in the dirt. Sticks were dinosaur bones, rocks were bits of weaponry, some old weed-barrier cloth was surely primitive clothing.
Someday their cursive may be sorely lacking, but their creativity will never be.
See, the cultivation of creativity is one of our homeschooling goals. Why? … {Read the rest here, even if you don’t homeschool! Hope this can be an encouragement to you. Thanks for reading!}