"I am wondering how other moms handle the time when their older children begin reading more deeply about their childhood heroes and find that someone they had believed in all their lives, and looked up to, was really a rascal in this area or other. Maybe not a rascal, but maybe racist, or not as godly as they thought, or ....you fill in the blank. Having raised my children with 'heroes', they are very disillusioned when they get older and read about their heroes' failings.
"I know this teaches them to think, and not to believe everything they read, and about the sin nature of man, etc, but it also devastates their hopes that there really were/are people out there that were/are altruistic."
I understand where this mom is coming from. We see it all too often with today's heroes but when our kids look to people like Abraham Lincoln or George Washington and so forth, some how we think that those are totally wholesome heroes. But, upon further investigation we find that these heroes owned slaves or were not faithful to their wives, or were racist...
I guess our kids need to realize that human nature hasn't changed.
I encouraged this mom to talk to her children about Abraham, David and the Apostle Paul. Perfect? By no means! But yet they did great things for God.
When my kids were younger I liked to make sure they saw and understood even though people are not perfect, look what they can accomplish. Look what God can do with these jars of clay. I think it is inspiring for kids to think that a rascal can do great things--it kind of gives us hope for ourselves. If every hero was like Joseph or Jesus, I think that would be discouraging--I mean, how could we every measure up?
I think it is also prudent when kids have these crisis moments to talk through what choices their heroes could have made and also to point out that if even these great men [and women] messed up sometimes, can they still see them as heroes?
This really helps kids understand why we need a saviour. I mean, if everyone was perfect and never let anyone down and was totally in God's will, it wouldn't make Christ's sacrifice mean much, would it?
It is humbling to think that "no one is righteous, no not one," and yet we can accomplish a lot for God if we are willing. I think this is a message our kids really need to learn.
My daughter Kari wrote a song quite a number of years ago, when she was 16. I am going to type the words here--I think she really has a grasp on heroes and how to approach them--by trying to emulate the best traits from each one.
Talk Like a Donkey by Kari
Turn the pages
See another life come and gone
Time has covered them
We carry on...
Why do we do the things we do each day?
Doesn't really matter, we're not here to stay
But we can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
Yeah we can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
We can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We've got to pray like Daniel, the lion guy
Obey Noah with, no outcry
Fish like Peter reel in men
Be a leader like Paul
That guy set some trends
Talk like a donkey though strange it may seem
Be willing like Stephen who died for his team
But whoever you're like or or choose to be
Remember to live like Jesus
Ruth was obedient, and she found bliss
Samson gave himself away, with just one kiss
Job had a good life, but he was robbed till he bled
Ester fought for all her courage, went to the king and pled
We can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
We can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
We can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We've got to pray like Daniel, the lion guy
Obey Noah with no outcry
Fish like Peter reel in men
Be a leader like Paul that guy set some trends
Talk like a donkey though strange it may seem
Be willing like Stephen who died for his team
But whoever you're like or or choose to be
Remember to live like Jesus
As I turn the pages,
New respect has grown in me
I think I know what kind a person I want to be
Yeah life is different now
Sure things have changed
But through their examples--they've shown me how to rearrange
I going to pray like Daniel, the lion guy
Obey like Noah with, no outcry
I'll fish like Peter reel in men
Be a leader like Paul that guy set some trends
I'll talk like a donkey though strange it may seem
I'll Be willing like Stephen who died for his team
But whoever I'm like or or choose to be
I'll remember to live like Jesus
I'll Remember to live like Jesus
Take care,
Jill
"I know this teaches them to think, and not to believe everything they read, and about the sin nature of man, etc, but it also devastates their hopes that there really were/are people out there that were/are altruistic."
I understand where this mom is coming from. We see it all too often with today's heroes but when our kids look to people like Abraham Lincoln or George Washington and so forth, some how we think that those are totally wholesome heroes. But, upon further investigation we find that these heroes owned slaves or were not faithful to their wives, or were racist...
I guess our kids need to realize that human nature hasn't changed.
I encouraged this mom to talk to her children about Abraham, David and the Apostle Paul. Perfect? By no means! But yet they did great things for God.
When my kids were younger I liked to make sure they saw and understood even though people are not perfect, look what they can accomplish. Look what God can do with these jars of clay. I think it is inspiring for kids to think that a rascal can do great things--it kind of gives us hope for ourselves. If every hero was like Joseph or Jesus, I think that would be discouraging--I mean, how could we every measure up?
I think it is also prudent when kids have these crisis moments to talk through what choices their heroes could have made and also to point out that if even these great men [and women] messed up sometimes, can they still see them as heroes?
This really helps kids understand why we need a saviour. I mean, if everyone was perfect and never let anyone down and was totally in God's will, it wouldn't make Christ's sacrifice mean much, would it?
It is humbling to think that "no one is righteous, no not one," and yet we can accomplish a lot for God if we are willing. I think this is a message our kids really need to learn.
My daughter Kari wrote a song quite a number of years ago, when she was 16. I am going to type the words here--I think she really has a grasp on heroes and how to approach them--by trying to emulate the best traits from each one.
Talk Like a Donkey by Kari
Turn the pages
See another life come and gone
Time has covered them
We carry on...
Why do we do the things we do each day?
Doesn't really matter, we're not here to stay
But we can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
Yeah we can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
We can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We've got to pray like Daniel, the lion guy
Obey Noah with, no outcry
Fish like Peter reel in men
Be a leader like Paul
That guy set some trends
Talk like a donkey though strange it may seem
Be willing like Stephen who died for his team
But whoever you're like or or choose to be
Remember to live like Jesus
Ruth was obedient, and she found bliss
Samson gave himself away, with just one kiss
Job had a good life, but he was robbed till he bled
Ester fought for all her courage, went to the king and pled
We can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
We can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We can learn from them
We can analyze their mistakes
We can learn from them
Maybe figure out what it takes
We've got to pray like Daniel, the lion guy
Obey Noah with no outcry
Fish like Peter reel in men
Be a leader like Paul that guy set some trends
Talk like a donkey though strange it may seem
Be willing like Stephen who died for his team
But whoever you're like or or choose to be
Remember to live like Jesus
As I turn the pages,
New respect has grown in me
I think I know what kind a person I want to be
Yeah life is different now
Sure things have changed
But through their examples--they've shown me how to rearrange
I going to pray like Daniel, the lion guy
Obey like Noah with, no outcry
I'll fish like Peter reel in men
Be a leader like Paul that guy set some trends
I'll talk like a donkey though strange it may seem
I'll Be willing like Stephen who died for his team
But whoever I'm like or or choose to be
I'll remember to live like Jesus
I'll Remember to live like Jesus
Take care,
Jill
Absolutely agree! I think God's redemptive power is far more inspiring that people who always did it right... mostly because my hope is in redemption because I don't always do it right.
ReplyDelete~Luke