Loving Against Culture

Sweet, fun-loving Beth coughed in my face just enough; I'm down for the count.  A shorter post today, but one that still has love as its theme. I'm trying to come up with the emotional and physical strength to cart my four children to Aldi's grocery, for the freezer is bare and dinner looms.

Just a few thoughts to share on birthdays today. Some might find this post irritating but I've decided to take that chance. I didn't ask for exhortation as a spiritual gift, and though I was given it, I still need practice in presenting topics delicately. So don't get too angry with me?

At birthdays we spend just $30 on each child. They know if they want a party or a fancy cake, that money comes out of their total money. It's wonderful to mark birthdays as a special family and friend time, but what our culture does to "mark" these childhood milestones becomes quite a spectacle.

It seems we've come to view children as princes and princesses. Sadly, the more we treat them as such, the less likable they become. The greater their sense of entitlement grows.

In my dicipling I try to combat the strong, alluring messages my children receive from the world. With no public school, and no TV signal for a number of years now, they weren't receiving many of the usual messages. But now, with neighborhood children coming through, the messages come through too. They've never seen a Wii, an Xbox, or any other such gadget or game, but now they're hearing of them and wondering why they don't have them (at least Peter is--my most impulsive child).

One of my main teachings is that materialism destroys us from the inside out. The more we encumber ourselves with things or with the desire for things, the less we can love others. The less we can bring glory to God--especially if we're just sitting and entertaining ourselves. Entertainment certainly has its place, but its become a huge idol in our culture.

When you begin these discipleship lessons with your children, or with yourself, you always come back to this one hurdle: Loneliness.

A child contemplates: But nearly everyone has a fancy cake on their birthday. Nearly everyone has a party. Nearly everyone has some sort of electronic game. Lately, nearly every child brings their iPhone by our house. More and more grade-school children possess these monstrosities. Younger and younger children are sexting, corrupting their minds with pornography because of unsupervised Internet time. Children envy their peers and apparently bug their parents relentlessly, until every fourth grader in the class has an iPhone--even if they don't have a winter coat.

Endeavoring to keep both feet out of the world leads to loneliness. When you stand on principal, you're often isolated. But the beauty of this phenomena? Loneliness leads us to God. And he truly satisfies. He truly fills.

Once we get past the envy and manage to live contentedly on the fringe with our Heavenly Father as our ever-present companion, the next thing we need to do is squash our judgments. A person has to fill up on God first, before they can stop filling up on the world. So to help them? We help them fill up on God. Judging someone who doesn't know any alternative is futile. That judgement only hurts God and us; it keeps us from loving our neighbor. It's hard to love someone for whom you feel disdain.

I admit I have to work hard to squash my judgments of neighborhood parents. I know they're simply trying to love their children, and in our culture, loving a child is synonymous with indulging them. Delighting them. Everyone wants to bring smiles to their children's faces. The trouble is, that smile we bring now could lead to spiritual dysfunction later--not to mention financial dysfunction.

We've struggled with the cake thing in the past couple years, but this year Paul was happy to decorate the humble but delicious cake I made, and in turn, I was proud of his maturity. Cake doesn't last...it's fleeting, like so many of the things we think we need.

 

 Here is his donated piano, close enough to his birthday to be considered a gift from God himself.

 God does provide for some of their wants, including a yearly praying mantis for Peter. This fall it was looking dim until a girl from church brought her praying mantis to a fall fellowship. Deciding it was too much trouble--catching those crickets and all--she gave it to Peter. And a week later, Peter had an egg sac! Daddy and Peter get so excited when something leaves us with an egg sac. :)

These faces? Nothing short of amazing. God is amazing!

The mantis, feasting. 

Now for some Scriptures about feasting on God.

John 7:38

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

Isaiah 58:11
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Isaiah 44:3

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Isaiah 12:3

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

John 4:14

but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Matthew 6:24

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.