On Your Hearts.

             These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

Wednesday night at a prayer meeting, someone shared a concern about our kids. I’ve read Jonathan Haidt’s books describing how fear and anxiety plague our youth, but this time, it was about “our” children and how timid they are. Part of it is because of social media, schools, and the press. But another big part of it is our fault. We have spoken with social media, schools, and the press. We have spoken fear, not faith, and conformation, not courage. These have been spoken to us and over us for decades. Maybe you’re not the same, but I have spoken fear over my life for a long time. I can’t say I’m a conformer, but I have been a coward.

Today’s passage follows the Shema that Jesus quoted as part of the greatest commandment. As tempting as it is to explore that, today’s passage is also important. We are to think about God’s commandments. We’re to talk to ourselves (our inner children) and our children about them. They are supposed to dominate our interior design and enhance our curb appeal. Some might say that’s a horrid idea, to constantly beat ourselves and our kids with “Thou Shalt Not _____!” but isn’t that precisely what we’ve been helping the world teach them? We/They must walk this way, talk this way, dress this way, agree with these opinions, declare these “facts”, never take a chance… And if you don’t measure up to the highlight reels on social media, well, you may as well kill yourself.  Granted, the current “Law” isn’t the Law given by God, but there’s always a “The Law.” And what we tell our children is the Law that we obey.

The other factor in all this is that God wasn’t being an arbitrary megalomaniac when He commanded the Israelites to keep the law in their hearts, on their lips, and in their homes. As we repeat these things, our minds develop neural pathways. What we repeat influences the way we behave and the way our children behave. I’m not talking about arrogant lectures, but about encouragement and explanations. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but what we’ve been telling them isn’t producing a good result, so maybe it’s time to change it. For them and for us.