All it took was a furry, red fuzzball with big, beady eyes to light up my 16 month old's face. The high pitched squeals of "mo-mo" (Elmo, for those not up to speed on Carterese)were followed by waiting in line for a chance to take a quick snapshot with the famous Sesame Street character. The attached picture speaks volumes as to my toddler's joy at meeting his television "hero" at the Discovery Science Center. We also recently spent time at the Aliso Viejo theater to view a free movie entitled "Elmo in Grouchland." Though we only lasted twenty minutes before we had to leave--when Carter started petting the nice lady's hair sitting in front of us, I took that as my sign to go--to Carter it was a wonderful twenty minutes of watching Elmo as large as life on a movie screen.
Though Elmo is a great character for kids to enjoy, it made me ponder the priority we place on other people, or red muppets in this case, over our God and King. Does it speak to an error in my parenting that I haven't spent as many hours praising our Heavenly Father and talking about Him to Carter as laughing at Elmo antics on TV? The other day, Carter pointed to his Bible and said "Jzus". I was thrilled! However, this came several months after learning to nickname his favorite furry monster. I so want Carter to adore God and have Him be his hero! The celebrities of this world are meaningless when compared to the majesty of our Lord. Imagine the stares I'd get if I replaced all the worldly heroes "stuff" with pictures of Jesus! Carter could have a Jesus lunchbox, a Jesus T-shirt, God videos, books, puzzles, etc. Okay, that might sound over the top, but you get the point. Early on, we need to teach our little ones that God is number one, and He deserves our adoration over anything else. I need to be his most powerful role-model of this practice. My life needs to clearly demonstrate that God is my hero. If I looked at your life, who would I say was yours?
Exodus 20:3-4 "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not
make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the
earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or
worship them: for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God."
3 comments:
What you wrote about Carter/Elmo/Idols is so convicting. Pair it with Christiane William's comment about how she needs to care as much about her children's spiritual growth AS HER OWN...wow.
There are so many idols in our lives. But then there's the idols in my heart that are so deep routed. Oh, God is so gracious to me to not show me my sins all at once!!!!
You are right on Chiara! My guys can pick out Thomas/Elmo, etc in any line up, but teaching them about our utmost important person doesn't come as easy. I'm so glad our God gives us grace and patience as we continue on our spiritual journey. How great that Carter pointed and said Jesus!
Nicely put, Chiara. Maybe I should back off a bit in my efforts to teach Carter how to say "dude" and focus a little more on God...
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