Friday, October 15, 2010

The monster under the bed or God…Which do you believe in more?

Bedtime has been a big battle around here lately. Kid is at that age where her imagination is taking off and she can’t tell reality from fantasy.

All parents have been through this…there is a MONSTER under the bed! How can we possibly expect kid to go to sleep when her life are in peril!! (Kid is a drama queen)

We have tried reasoning with her….flashing a light under the bed to reveal only a lost shoe, doll and a sock or two…NOPE! There is a MONSTER there!

We have tried sending daddy in to ‘beat the monster up.’ Nightlights, leaving all the lights on, monster go away spray….

We tried explaining to her that God is always with her and that He would never let a monster hurt her.

This morning, after a long bedtime battle last night, a simple thought came to me- She believes in monsters more than she believes in God.

I then thought about all the ‘monsters’ many adults believe in- and warn so greatly against. I grew up hearing that watching shows like Bewitched, Adams Family, Smurfs, and so on would cause me to be ‘open to demons’ and would lead directly to the occult! Halloween? You would be better off hiding out in the basement in fear and trembling than dress up and get candy. Don’t forget Cabbage Patch Dolls!

We claim that ‘God is bigger than the boogey man’ yet we are terrified of what lurks around every corner. What does this say about our faith? About how we view God? Do we honestly believe that God is so week that He can’t over some any silly little demons that hide out in Harry Potter? Are we so easily lead that we think that dressing up and getting candy is in any way equal to what has been done in the past (or may even go on now) on Halloween? What does it say when we are scared to watch certain TV shows?

The kid has an excuse for her misplaced belief in monsters- her brain is not fully developed, she does not have logic or reasoning skills, and her imagination runs wild. Her faith in God has yet to become real and solid. We adults should have outgrown these flights of fancy years ago. Our faith in a real and personable God should be firmly in place. We should be able to see that a TV show or a book, or a fun holiday is just that and not full of lurking evils.

In short; adults should know better and their lack of faith in God in these things is appalling.

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