My First Sony to My First Facial?
Because I am a fairly new parent, I subscribe to a huge stack of parenting magazines. Some are secular, and serve primarily as a resource for craft ideas and birthday cake decorating tips. Others are published by Christian organizations, and I look to them to challenge my thinking about parenting. Or, at least I hope they do.
Sadly, I was greatly disappointed by a Christian publication I received this past week. One article in particular described babies and very young children “growing up in the lap of luxury,” and the phenomenon where luxury has become common in our country. The article’s final paragraph touched on the idea of “premiere experiences [that] are still an exclusive option for parents with deep pockets.” These are explained to be situations in which, for instance, a 3-year-old may be taken to a spa for “My First Manicure” or “My First Facial.” I was amazed, since I had never heard of such a thing, but what got me was the author’s final question to her audience: “Are these experiences appropriate for young children?”
I was struck by what a small, secular question this was! As a young mother, I want to be challenged to think Christianly about the decisions I make concerning my children. Think of all the amazing questions this situation should have provoked: What values am I teaching my 3-year-old by bringing her to a spa? What would Jesus think about how I was spending my money and teaching my child to spend hers? What does taking the child to a spa teach her about where a woman’s beauty comes from? How can I as a parent guard my child from the prevalence of materialism that this article brought to my attention? These are the questions that view the child as a spiritual being and approach parenting from a point of concern for the child’s spiritual welfare.
But the author didn’t ask any of these questions. She simply questioned the age-appropriateness of the activity. Is materialism really appropriate at any age?
The week went on, and I encountered a different situation, and yet altogether related. This time, a young couple, who recently joined a small group my husband and I host in our home, was discussing the pressure Christian friends have put on them to “be with the times.” They have been teased about not having a cell phone (a necessity for modern life) or the wife’s desire to have a minivan when she becomes a mother (apparently, SUVs drink a lot more gas, but are worth it because they look so impressive in your driveway).
As I pondered the possibility of someday driving my newly-manicured infant around in a fully-loaded SUV, I was reminded of Romans 12:2 which reads:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Concerning this verse, Matthew Henry once commented:
The great enemy to this renewal is, conformity to this world. Take heed of forming plans for happiness, as though it lay in the things of this world, which soon pass away. Do not fall in with the customs of those who walk in the lusts of the flesh, and mind earthly things.
As materialism is seeping into our churches, we must be willing to throw off worldliness and be different from not only those without the church, but sometimes those within.
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