Eyes and Ears
Sunday was the beginning of our Rooted series and small groups for both our adults and students. Boy was it a fantastic start to this series!
Wonderful meaningful discussions, going deeper with 7th/8th-grade girls aaaaaand a serious gut punch for me. Somehow, our conversation got around to the difficulty these sweet girls have being their true selves and doing the right thing when there are so many “non-Christian” options to choose from when listening to music, watching movies/shows, and scrolling through their phones, etc. and not understanding why if it “doesn’t affect them, why can’t they do it?” To which I responded “But, sweetheart, garbage in, garbage out. You may not think it isn't affecting you but subconsciously, it is!”…then the gut punch. I am paraphrasing but the gist was “Why should I be careful about what I watch or what I listen to when my parents watch (_____ fill in the blank here)? Ouch. The song of my young adulthood came screaming back to my ears. Enter Rodney Atkins’ song “Watching You”. It haunted me the rest of the night and obviously into today.
……..”A green traffic light turned straight to red
I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath
His fries went a-flying and his orange drink covered his lap
Well then my four-year-old said a four-letter word
That started with "S" and I was concerned
So I said, "Son now where did you learn to talk like that?"
He said "I've been watching you dad, ain't that cool?
I'm your buckaroo, I wanna be like you
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are………..”
Even as a middle schooler, she was watching, observing, and justifying her actions by the actions of her main earthly examples. As a parent, I was keenly aware of the “eyes and ears” of my littles. But when they became pre-teens (if we are being honest - probably a little before that even), that awareness, that self-regulation, that being on my “best behavior” sort of began to wane. They were older now. They can begin to self-regulate, right? They can’t be sheltered forever I was told. But that comment from our sweet middle schooler was a reality check for me. They never stop watching how we act, react, interact, and respond to the world around us. So I wanted to pass this on to you as well. They never stop watching what we are doing. We can never stop being vigilant in our “self-regulation.” And not just for the sake of our littles, our tweens, our teens, our young adult children, and eventually our grandchildren, but also for us.
Because garbage in-garbage out.
We may be adults, but do the things of the world affect us any less than what we are trying to protect our children from? Subconsciously? Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things.” And then there is the verse from 1 Corinthians 10:23 “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up”. We as adults, we also have to guard our hearts, minds, ears, and eyes from things that do not build us up, that are not helpful, that may seem “innocent enough.” Because they are watching you.