This has been building up for quite some time now, so here it is……where has our sense of honor gone? We Christians are doing our children a great disservice by letting them live no different than the world. We have lowered our standards, our expectations and our requirements on our children. We seem to have lost our sense of respect and our ability to teach our children to be respectful. Our understanding of where we fit in the hierarchy of the family has been lost. How many siblings do you have? Seems like an easy enough question, right? Wrong. I made the mistake of asking that question to my class one day at school. Yikes, you have no idea the kinds of answers that were given. And then there is manners. Manners were lost somewhere. Oh my, I am afraid we have lost our way. We have fallen into the trap and we have started to live like the pagans do. We don’t know what it means to stand up for and honor our flag and country. We don’t seem to know how to honor our elders or why it is even important to pause and give thanks for the food we eat, for the home that we are in, for the family that we are with, for the hands that prepared the meal for us. We dig into our meals as if they were take-out no matter what the occasion. We act as if we are starving and haven’t eaten for days. We don’t seem to know enough to hold the door for someone. We don’t seem to care enough to give our seat to a pregnant woman, an elderly person, or just to someone who looks tired. We don’t know enough to take our turn rather than push to the front. We don’t seem to care who we step on to get to the top. We don’t seem to notice that we threw our trash on the ground… let alone pick up someone elses. When the funeral processional of cars makes its way through town from the church to the grave, no one seems to know to let the cars pass by without cutting in or cutting off. No one seems to know any better about much of anything anymore and it makes me sad, but it also makes me nervous. Where are we headed? We keep giving our rights away. We are afraid to share our faith, we are too weak to stand up for the things we believe in, we are too politically correct to speak up for our values.
Oh Lord, forgive us for our apathy. Oh Lord, forgive us for our ignorance. Oh Lord, forgive us for our lack of character. Oh Lord have mercy on us for WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE DO!
If we only knew the damage that we are doing to our children, to our families, to our country, to life as we know it. If we only could see how lost we are. If we could just realize how far we have gone off of the path. Oh Lord give us eyes to see which way to go. Oh Lord give us ears to hear your voice. Lord that you would get our attention and soften our hearts toward you. Lord we need you to lead us because we are so lost. Thank you for meeting us where we are. Lord give us the courage to be strong and couragous. Help us to see that you alone are our full supply. Give us wisdom and strength to train up our children in the way they should go so that when they are older they will not depart from it. Lord we need you now more than ever. We praise you Jesus and we thank your for lifting us out of this miry pit and setting our feet upon the rock!
Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. 12 With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever, 13 for your love for me is very great. You have rescued me from the depths of death. Psalm 86:11-13
Cindy –
I think this more and more every day and find it depressing. There’s such a win at all costs, take no responsibility, lie, cheat and steal to get ahead attitude out there and it’s scary. I’m disgusted by what I find on TV anymore (both “child” and “adult” programming) and feel as if we’re letting that model for children instead of being adults, stepping up and modeling responsible, emotionally intelligent behavior.
I don’t have kids of my own, but I try and portray right and wrong, good manners, helping others, etc., when I am around all of my friends’ kids. And, I do catch myself at times thinking that a little person might be watching me, even if I’m not directly interacting with them (it’s amazing what kids pick up!), and it reminds me to watch my ps and qs a little bit more. Your message is a breath of fresh air. Thank you for speaking up…..thank you for making others think……and thank you for being a great parent.
It is scary Laura and sad. Thank you for your encouragement and for modeling responsible, emotionally intelligent behavior. I love that description. I think I will be using that one on my kids starting today! Have a blessed day friend!