I was changing my son's diaper the other day when he looked down and told me the character on the front of the diaper - Mickey Mouse. Being the dutiful dad I said, "That's right Elijah, that's Mickey Mouse." Almost immediately I thought, "Wait, he's barely 2 years old, how does he know who Mickey Mouse is?" Who told him it was Mickey, why is he excited about having him on his diaper, why am I excited that he recognizes him? Then I thought, "Almost as soon as this kid came out of the womb, he began to see Disney movies: Monster, Inc., Cars, Bugs Life, 101 Dalmatians, and the list goes on. Granted, none of those have Mickey in them, but somewhere along the way (probably from his older siblings) he picked that up.
What if we were able to instill who Jesus is this early? What if by the time they reach 2 years of age, they can see pictures of Jesus, Joseph, Mary, etc. and say "That's ____________." As more research comes out, the ages of Birth - 3, it is becoming more widely accepted that those are the ages of KEY influence. These early years of life are so crucial in a child's personal AND SPIRITUAL development! Jesus and other Bible Stories should be posted every where we go so that our kids barley know of any thing else.
Of course, this is extremely hard to do given the images coming into our homes every day. If your kids spend any time watching television, or being around you while YOUR watching, chances are they have already been exposed to more than children growing up even 25 years ago! Why not take some radical steps to decrease or eliminate the insane barrage of images that take our focus off of Jesus?
Perhaps I am way out in left field, but I always try and remember that we are in a spiritual battle for the lives of our kids. If kids are highly influential in their early years, then you can be sure the enemy knows this and will target them - just like we should! Parents and Church, it's time to unite to make Jesus so famous, they will be putting his picture on our kid's diapers.
Dean
Hi Dean.
ReplyDeleteI read your post and thought it quite funny because I'm not sure if Jesus ever intended us to put the image of him on a diaper. (Does it matter what he looked like anyhow?) While that may be the extreme of your post I think that by making photos of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and putting them on diapers, boards or stickers you're in effect turning Jesus into a symbol or an idol where as Jesus never intended that. In the Gospel of Thomas, (not sure if you're okay with this gospel) Jesus is quoted as saying "I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained.
Split a piece of wood; I am there.
Lift up the stone, and you will find me there." It is basic what he is saying here. That he is manifested in all things, all things that are come through Christ. So what does this mean about teaching your young one about diapers and Mickey Mouse? It means that when he looks at a diaper, or an image of Mickey Mouse, he should be taught that there is much more to that diaper than what he sees. That diaper is made up of paper, that was made from a tree that came from the ground. That diaper is made up of molecules and atoms constantly in motion. It's made up of energy and life stuff. That diaper, remarkably enough, is made up of Christ because through Christ, all things were made. Teach him to find Christ in all things and soon, he will reach the inevitable conclusion that Christ is within him too and he won't need images of what we think Jesus looks like to remind him of this. How do you do this? I started a garden with my daughter and every day or so, we go out and see it grow. We pick the radishes to see how the deep rooted radishes grow big and strong and the shallow rooted radishes don't produce much radish. We touch the plants and see life in the bugs and worms that eat the plants and turn over rocks to see another world below. I show her a seed and then show her that within that seed, there are instructions to create such a remarkable creation that a huge library would be necessary to store all the instructions to build one tomato plant.
But my point is, let's stop making Jesus into an idol and let Mickey be.
Thanks
Miguel