Deconstructing Priceless

I have a growing collection of  reviews of parenting memoirs: women (100% so far) who have written about their child rearing experiences. Most are entertaining. All are helpful to some degree or another. They all claim to have been desperate, at wit’s end, or deep in the throes of failure before seeing the stars. Tiger Mom was the exception. She started sure-footed in the stars and gracefully slid into reality.

Stories from those endeavoring to maintain biblical principles all along (married before children, committed to biblical family principles regardless of whether children are in the home, personal lifestyle aligned with spiritual priorities) are neither as common, nor as entertaining. They are, however, priceless gems, when you hear of one. These are not the people writing books, apparently. Today is a blip of encouragement for the slow, steady, consistent process of building an environment where scriptural interest is part of the air, flavors the mealtimes, cuddles in with bedtime stories, leads the way in family activities, and is anonymous in the flashy world of modern parenting.

Priceless

FamilyNight! The plan was for watching a film and making popcorn. The twoish, mom, and dad were all snuggled on the couch, popcorn bowl in hand, watching together. Mid-stream, Twoish pipes up, “Dad, let’s read the Bible. See, there’s one right over there,” pointing with pixie fingers to Dad’s big study Bible close by.

Mom and Dad, of course Part 1, look at one another, briefly flummoxed. I mean, who wants to tell a child that one doesn’t read the Bible in the middle of a family film night? But, of course Part 2, this is a family that has been reading the Bible since before Twoish could sit on their laps and both Dad and Mom love the advice and truth they garner from spending time with it. So they simply shut off the family night fun and got the Bible and had another round of family devotions.

Dull, right? No hilarious battle with the baby. No dramatic defeat of the desperate parent. Just another blink-and-its-gone opportunity to keep priorities straight. That or exert the nefarious adult privilege to “well-deserved down time after a busy week”.

Deconstruction

In a home not glued to the media mesmerizer for 1) general babysitting purposes, 2) male sportification, and 3) female fantasizing, occasional, intentional dips into the media world are relaxing, educational, and entertaining. But not when life runs on its schedule. Not when a Two knows more about programming schedules than how to put away Tupperware, plump his pillow, or pore over books. Not when every fledgling attempt at companionship the child makes is met with, “Later, buddy, can’t you see I’m watching. . .”  Not when the only thing a parent can think to do with the child is pop in another Disney video.

How does a twoish come to desire time spent with mom, dad, and the Bible? Isn’t the Bible too hard for even adults to understand? Isn’t it so boring, even an adult has to “make himself” attend to it? Isn’t it so irrelevant that spending time in its pages is essentially squandering time that could be far better invested in relaxing, working, or even sleeping?

But our Twoish family is radical and counterculture. They invest time in Bible pages, not as a have-to magic pill for successful living, but as want-to time with the Lord, receiving both pleasure and perfecting. The grown-up love and involvement for its truth spills over in table and bedtime talk.

Cuddled safe with both mom and dad while hearing voices read and explain the Bible has been part of Two’s journey from the World before Words into the present. Now when he sits cuddled with mom and dad on the sofa and the Bible is open, they are all together talking about Bible stories and praying for friends. More than that, Bible time has emerged from the mist of wordless sense into part of his secure reality. 

Of course, every day is a new day. Every opportunity to consistently invest in spiritual truth is a new challenge. A family heading the right direction can always make a wrong turn. Shifting from media fun to spiritual investment might not happen again. But in Twoish’s home, the odds are that his mom and dad will be making priority stewardship decisions that will result in the accrued benefits of a spiritually-sensitive, well-behaved, conversational child. Dull in the marketing world. Priceless in eternity—and in peace-full homes.