A poor reflection of myself

One of my conversations with Ezra today included him saying that he doesn't care if someone gets hurt. He said he doesn't feel sad for them. Concerned, I questioned him further about this, worrying that my son will be a sociopath. He said, "I can't help it, it's how God made me!"

We spoke about compassion and what that meant and how God tells us to have compassion for others. When others are sad, we are to be sad for them, and if others are hurt or sick, we are to be kind to them. I told him that God told us in the Bible to love others, even those who are not our friends or family. For a reality check, go and read Luke 14:12-14.

Then we got to talking about strangers; nice ones and mean ones. He claimed that a mean stranger was one who had "yucky things" and a nice stranger was one who had "cool things". Another can of worms! Without trying to mess up the whole don't-talk-to-strangers mantra, I tried to explain to him that it does not matter what a person may have or wear...that doesn't make him a good or bad person. It's how they treat others and what's in their heart that matters. How do you teach a four-year-old this kind of stuff and hope that he truly gets it?

I thought I was so good at teaching through example. I am so careful not to comment on what a person is wearing, their social status, or on their physical appearance. But my son is still influenced by the tons of information coming his way. Somehow he likes Hannah Montana and Zack and Cody (television shows geared toward preteens). How? Do I let him watch this stuff? And how is he so concerned about what "looks cool"? He told me he liked me because I have a pretty face (thanks for the compliment, but the implications are not lost on me). It's a fact of life that my son is not only influenced by me and my husband, but by the great big world around him. And that influence that we, as parents, have on him is going to be strong and weak at times. It also makes me regret that we had never let him get involved with some of the shows and toys and attitude about collecting things that are already ingrained in his little mind.

How often do you, as a parent, sit down and think of consciously telling your small child basic concepts such as sin, compassion and the fact that God shows no partiality based on money, power or influence?

Yet, the Bible tells us to do so, in Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

So, my example alone is not all that I should do. Although I'll admit that my example needs to be more deliberate. But to constantly speak to him about the truths in the Bible that God wants us to pass on. The good news of the Bible is imperative, but our children need to know why there is the gospel to begin with.

Thankfully, God will always give us wonderful teaching moments that, if we are paying attention, we can use to teach our children about what God has to say on the issue. And many times, those teaching moments will come up by the questions our young ones have that force us to sit and think about the simplest and most often elegant answers.