Once again, I feel compelled to pray for children. It seems that all my spiritual reading continues to remind me of the importance of being child-like before the Lord. So I remind myself that children don’t waste time thinking about yesterday or worrying about tomorrow, they live joyfully in the moment.
But I feel a wave of sadness as I think how our culture rushes to push children out of their childhood. In essence, as natural childhood gets cut short, so does their spiritual childhood. Take a look around. Have you noticed that many of the children's clothes sold by retailers are miniature versions of adult clothing? Watch 10 minutes of a children’s television program. It is filled with innuendos and often worse. Wait for the commercials. What is seen in television commercials today, wouldn’t be allowed in primetime programming 50 years ago. Venture to watch a show targeted to a teen audience. It will be highly sexualized. Listen to a Top 40 radio station. Music is no longer about walking on the beach. What about the World Wide Web? A child can intentionally or even unintentionally bring subject matter to the screen that you would never allow through your front door.
Heartbreaking though it is, our children have become so desensitized, that they may not see anything wrong with the above. They just want to fit in. Rather than valuing the virtues that so naturally come to them, they are enticed by what is exalted by the culture: greed, lust, envy, pride, sloth, anger, and gluttony. Just watch any reality TV show to get a glimpse.
I ask that all of you pray for a change in our culture. May the heavenly Father protect his dear children. Lord, filter what is seen by their eyes and heard by their ears. Strengthen all parents and grandparents with fortitude, so they become a living and loving witness of what it means to “be like children.”
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Matthew 11:25
Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet
Invite anyone who is part of a family to pray with us.
