The odds are very high that one of your young children is depressed, and may have even considered suicide, or at least knows someone who has tried. This is America today. Perhaps you are sheltered from (or just not aware of) these facts, but our children are not. Children! Not mature enough to drive or drink or vote or join the military, but they can legally decide to have an abortion or change their sex. And in Canada and other countries they are now considering allowing children to choose euthanasia, if they deem their life not worth living. Growing up, I never heard that phrase “a life not worth living,” but today parents may use it to explain to their kids why they aborted a soon-to-be sibling: “They would have been born with this disease or that.” Not perfect, “They’d had a life not worth living.” So, I guess it’s not surprising that kids today would at some point ask that question of themselves: “Is my life worth living?”
The daily news exudes depressing information on almost any topic you can think of. Bad news is their good news. And REAL good news is rarely reported. But it is there.
The Marine Corps still has the motto: “No man left behind.” Every fellow marine is worth dying for. They are like a loving family. Somehow, a similar sense of worth and importance needs to be conveyed to our children today. It’s not being routinely taught as it once was.
Using the Marine Corps example, marines are taught how to fight for what is good for their country, for their community. As for themselves, they know the fight will be hard; they expect it, and they commit to it, and to all the pains they must suffer. They know they are not alone in their suffering; their fellow marines are there for them.
Children once felt that way, in their family, in their church. Today they no longer feel that worth. Someone needs to tell them. Someone needs to sincerely say to each one: “Your life is so important. Please don’t be sad. I love you; I would die for you. Things may be hard now, and you can’t see the end, and it hurts. But I am here with you. Always.”
And if they, in their depression or “I know it all” attitude push back, a hug might be in order, and a reminder that they are so important that you are not the only one who would die for them. There is someone else, too. “And He knows you and all you’re going through even better than I do. And He DID die for you. Even now, He looks at you and says ‘I’d give my life for you again. I know you are worth it. I know your worth more than anyone; I made you, and you are worth the world to me. Please hold on. Trust Me. I want you with me always. And I will always love you.”
I gave you life. Trust me, and I will give you eternal life.
Every child needs to know deeply in their heart that their life is worth living, even if it is hard. They were made for this. And for the eternal happiness which will follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment