{"id":562,"date":"2011-02-06T07:21:35","date_gmt":"2011-02-06T12:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/?p=562"},"modified":"2011-02-06T14:41:49","modified_gmt":"2011-02-06T19:41:49","slug":"living-up-to-our-children%e2%80%99s-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/06\/living-up-to-our-children%e2%80%99s-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Up To Our Children\u2019s Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

2-7-11<\/p>\n

This weekend is the centennial of Ronald Reagan\u2019s birth, and he has been, rightly, in the news. We surely need a dose of the Gipper\u2019s optimism, faith, and policies these days. Even the current occupant of the White house thinks so, at the least in part. He read an autobiography of Reagan over the Christmas holidays, and publicly has been respectful to his memory.<\/p>\n

Commentators have called the State of the Union speech Obama\u2019s \u201cReagan moment,\u201d for some reason. In a coincidence of timing, the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster also recently was observed; and President Reagan\u2019s speech to the nation \u2013 \u201cthey touched the face of God\u201d \u2013 was replayed to the benefit of us all. Lumps in the throat do not have expiration-dates.<\/p>\n

That politicians since Reagan have cast themselves in his image, or encouraged others to do so, seems almost sacrilegious; and the Challenger speech is one affirmation of that. The recent presidential speech, a putative Balm in Tucson, is said to have been Reaganesque. The admonition allegedly inspiring a nation \u2013 \u201cAll of us\u2026 should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children\u2019s expectations\u201d \u2013 is one from which, I suspect, Mr Reagan would have dissented. I surely do.<\/p>\n

I have nothing against children. I have been father to three, and recall being one myself. Some of my best friends are children. Children are wonderful and precious, gifts from God, the Bible tells us. But they are\u2026 children.<\/p>\n

Their innocence is being stolen in a thousand ways these days, by this society (another topic for another time, but I believe this to be true, and a cultural crime). Now we\u2019re supposed to burden them with drafting a list of expectations their parents and elders should live up to? How do kids wish we would act, and would have them to act? What would<\/em> those dreams be?<\/p>\n

If most children were honest, their lists would shock parents, elders, and teachers \u2013 at least those who forget what they were like as kids themselves:<\/p>\n

* Abolish rules about homework and bedtime;
\n* Get over our hang-ups about hair, dress, hygiene, and keeping a neat room;
\n* Promise not to ask about e-mails, phone calls, certain friends, or that music. Et cetera.<\/p>\n

I will jump from this new standard \u2013 that we should live up to our children\u2019s<\/em> expectations \u2013 and from speculation about what another president would not<\/em> have said\u2026 to what the Bible does<\/em> say, in disagreement: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it<\/em> (Proverbs 22:6).<\/p>\n

That is not some sacred fortune-cookie saying; it is more, even, than a prediction. It is a command – TRAIN UP children. For society to operate on a contrary standard (and, of course, everything it represents, and everything that flows from such beliefs) might, some day, lead to a country that is without any<\/em> standards; not just a culture that strives to \u201clive up to children\u2019s expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best wish for our children is that they desire to live up to our<\/em> expectations of them\u2026 and that everyone\u2019s aspiration be to meet God\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n

The beautiful irony of the Christian life is that children don\u2019t have to follow their inclinations or rebellion, and adults don\u2019t have to impose authority or cram some set of rules. We find victory in surrender. All Jesus wants us to do \u2013 His expectation<\/em> – is to lean on His Everlasting Arms.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

The great gospel song of that title is here plaintively sung by Iris DeMent. Long an outstanding singer\/songwriter, Iris\u2019s version of this classic hymn closes out the hit movie True Grit<\/em>; and is receiving deserved praise. The artwork in this video (a beautiful slideshow production of the excellent Beanscot Channel on YouTube) shows a variety of children, doing what Jesus expects of them, and all of us, leaning back in His loving arms.<\/p>\n

Click: Leaning On the Everlasting Arms<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ronald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2-7-11 This weekend is the centennial of Ronald Reagan\u2019s birth, and he has been, rightly, in the news. We surely need a dose of the Gipper\u2019s optimism, faith, and policies these days. Even the current occupant of the White house thinks so, at the least in part. He read an autobiography of Reagan over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,7,31],"tags":[163,162,160,161],"class_list":["post-562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-jesus","category-service","tag-culture","tag-expectations","tag-iris-dement","tag-ronald-reagan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1bRYz-94","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":587,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions\/587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}