I write this before the election results are final because it will be extremely relevant for the half of America that feels like they lost but should be relevant for all us. Most parents want their kids to be politically like-minded. The problem is in the fact that we are trying to raise our kids to be loyal to a particular party.
Parents what your kids need to see from you after the election is over.
- Humility – We need much more humility on both sides of the aisle.
- Humanity – The opposition is not an evil to be eradicated but people to be reasoned with and listened to and opposed strongly.
- Hope – Our kids need us to point them to the history of our republic and show the resilience that our founding fathers built into this experiment. They don’t need us counting ration cans and loading our weapons.
- Help – We need to have conversations with our kids about how they can help restore our country to her founding principles.
We need to teach our kids to be more faithful to the constitution, and to the principles that make America great. We need to tell them the goodness of our history without shielding them our massive shortcomings. We need to teach them that we must fight for liberty for all because when we fail to live up to the preamble of the constitution we collectively pay a great price. Lincoln understood this with a heavy heart during his second inaugural address he said
“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
“Will an equally severe accounting be demanded for America’s equally brazen denial of the Declaration’s promise of life for all and a myriad of other contradictions of America’s declared commitment to freedom?”
Guinness, Os
We must pray and pass on to our kids the stories of sacrifice and greatness rather than ranting on and on about why (insert political enemy here) is the worst.
The last thing we must always do is remind our kids of the hope of heaven. We only passing through if we look to the kingdoms of this world or political parties in this world we will be only ever disappointed. We must gain our footing and regain our perspective.
“One day America and all its presidents will be a footnote in history, but God’s kingdom will never end.” John Piper
Semper Reformanda.