In a recent conversation with a retired law enforcement individual, He shared the story of a young many who was arrested. As he sat in the holding room, his parents began the onslaught of insults and expressions of shame. The law enforcement gentleman stopped the onslaught and asked a very simple question. When was the las time you told your son that he mattered to you? When was the last time you embraced your son and told him that you loved him without having anything else attached to your conversation? This sparked a fire in the young man who immediately began to scream at his parents and say "tell them. tell them how long?"
I am not giving an excuse for bad behavior, but this is becoming the norm far to often. We have become so concerned with status and materialism that we have muted the actual influence that we have as parents. The Xbox will develop red ring. PS3 will get yellow light, and in the end the wears of the world will eat away at the designer clothes. What we need to realize is that the souls of our sons and daughters are eternal.
We must break the habit of running to the department store in order to satisfy our kids desire for stuff. Or to silence the requests for stuff. We must teach them what is truly important.... They are important. Their souls are more important than an ipod. Their daughters are more important than the latest fashions. In order for our kids to be bigger than our imaginations we must teach them that God is the one and his standards are the ones that lead to something truly bigger than our imagination.
