photo by House of Sims
Assuming our children know something can be a problem, for both them and us. Even more problematic is the rationalization we’ll then go through to justify why we never spent the time making sure they had the information they needed.
My thirteen year old son is still saving money to go towards a Wii system. He asked if there were any jobs around the house that could be done for pay. We have a tiny spare bedroom upstairs that the previous owner had used a faux painting technique on the walls and I wanted to make it all one solid color, so I gave my son the option of tackling the room. He didn’t think the pay was high enough, but seeing as how money wasn’t falling out of the sky on him, he eventually took the job.
We have painted numerous rooms together as a family. It’s not like this room was an initiation into the task. Yet, when I poked my head in the door after finishing some grocery shopping, I saw switch plates that hadn’t been removed with green paint smeared around them, the curtains still up, a picture still hanging on the wall, and the open can of paint and its lid sitting on the sheet drop cloth without any newspaper or plastic under it.
Practicing the motherly art of gentleness I said, “You know, you’re supposed to take the switch plates off before you start painting.”
“What’s a switch plate?” Assumption #1.
“You also need to take down the curtains, and you can’t leave the picture hanging up there.”
“Why do I have to take the curtains down?” Assumption #2.
“Did you stir the paint before you started using it?”
“Was I supposed to?” {sigh} Assumption #3.
“And that can of paint needs a newspaper or something under it to keep any drips from soaking through the sheet to the floor below.” 
“Why wasn’t I told about any of this beforehand?!” By now my hand is firmly planted on my forehead, my eyes closed as I think back to painting his sister’s bedroom just this past summer, and the living room, dining room and kitchen we painted in the other house, and the dining room, hallway and bedrooms we painted in the house before that.
“Is this the first time you’ve painted?” I asked in rebuttal, trying my best to squarely place the blame of his lack of painting prowess on his shoulders. “There are certain things as common sense at work here, too, you know.” photo by basykes
The truth is, I assumed too much. I assumed he knew all those things, or that he at least would have been able to figure it out for himself. Fortunately, no paint spilled on the floor and he hadn’t yet gotten to painting around the windows with the curtains. However, I am definitely out about five or six switch plates.
Do we make the same assumptions about our children’s knowledge about salvation, about God’s place in their lives, about obeying His truths? Do we assume that because we faithfully attend church and send our kids to Sunday school and youth activities and Christian camps that their walk of faith is guaranteed? Or that they’ll at least be able to figure it out for themselves somewhere down the road?
Parents, let us resolve right here, right now: our children are a mission field. We are to take a deliberate, purposeful approach to teaching them about God, His salvation plan and what His Word says about living according to His truths. Please don’t assume they know it already, or that they’ll figure it out for themselves somehow.
There’s more at stake here than a bunch of switch plates.
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1 comment:
Hi, I saw you said TGMT on twitter and you DMed me with the answer to what TGMT is. Great concept about our children being our greatest mission field.
Did you know from my tweeting that my first book is published?
My blog talks about it from time to time. It's about helping families celebrate Christmas.
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