Perceptions #34

"The Invasion"

by Norman Bales

Many years ago, Claude F. Witty rushed into a Detroit pulpit and began his sermon this way,

Attention everyone! We have just been informed that an army of invaders is about to overrun our land. Within a very short time they will have conquered this whole country and will be sitting in places of power and authority. One will be sitting in the President's chair; others will be dominating the Congress; others will control our radio and television stations, and our newspapers; our airlines and railroads will be doing their bidding; they will have complete control of our American industry and business! "Who are these invaders? These are our children. They are the youth of America."

Can it really be true? Billy, the boy with a hole in his jeans is going to be mayor? Sammy, who was sent to the principal's office for discipline last week, is going to become a principal? Mary, whose room looks like it was just rearranged by a California earthquake, is going to manage a city beautification project? Kathy, the little girl who was too shy to repeat her memory verse in Sunday School last week, is going to teach Sunday School? Horrors! How will these shy, awkward, unruly youngsters ever do the job? Surely wisdom will die when our generation passes off the scene.

Maybe not. Ashley Montague once wrote, "A child is a promise seeking fulfillment" But how are we going to help our children turn the promise into reality when the distance from promise to fulfillment looks like it would have to be measured in light years? In today's high tech, knowledge exploding, market-driven world parents sometime feel inadequate for the task of preparing their children for adulthood. By the time my kids reached junior high, my ability to tutor them in their homework assignments had about reached its limit. But there's something that we can give our children, which they may not pick up from professional educators. We still have the capacity to transmit spirituality, integrity and discipline.

The high tech market place tends either to be values neutral or values hostile, but parents still have the opportunity to teach through example and precept. Old Testament wisdom still needs to be taken seriously - "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

Norman's e-mail address is: nlbales@allaboutfamilies.org

top of page    previous article    Perceptions Index