This Kind of Pride is Good

Proverbs 17:6

Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

Shame, guilt and the pursuit of validation in vain sources plague this generation.  I think one of the biggest reasons is found here: we now have a fatherless community on our hands.  And their homes are broken.

So they have lost one of their most foundational sources of dignity and pride.  They have to be their own people; they don’t have mentors in the parents that left, betrayed, ignored or abused them.  Being in and part of a good family is a crown by itself.  Being of a good home is not just a traditional value for conservative Republicans.  There shouldn’t be a page about it in the book “Stuff Christians Like”.  It is a universal and timeless model that God has instituted so that human life may properly flourish.

But that institution, the one of a monogamous marriage between a man and a woman and the stability which that relationship provides for the raising of children, has been compromised.  And the iY generation is now paying the price.

What caused the dissolution of the American family?

Was it our embracing of sexual promiscuity that led to child raising outside of a marriage context?

Have we lost our gender identity so that we no longer see the need to pair with a member of the opposite sex, so that we think we are emotionally and spiritually sufficient to raise children by ourselves?

How can we restore the pride of the children?

Personally, we must be reconciled with our heavenly Father.  Culturally, we must recommit ourselves to solid family structure.  Morally, we must return to values that help keep the family structure intact such as marital fidelity, marital permanence and responsible child raising.

Epilogue:

The crown of the aged

Grandchildren are a crown because they are the legacy left.  In old age, it becomes increasingly difficult to assess one’s self as having a lasting impact on society.  There comes a finality in the end of life that sobers a person up.  As we near death, we begin to wonder if we will be remembered and we think about who our life impacted.  But grandchildren are a memorial; an ebenezer of a lasting legacy.  They are the crown of the aged because they speak of the aged person’s enduring spirit on the earth.  The things they taught, the way they discipled and what they stood for continue to resonate on in the following generations.

But as the family structure dissolves, grandchildren are becoming a more rare occurrence, and so the brokenness of the home affects the glory of the aged as well as the young.  The thinner the thread holding together the family, the more the aged will suffer with wanting to know that the baton they passed will be passed again.  But in a solid home structure, there is a tighter space between baton passes, and thus a deeper sense of purpose for all generations.  As you near death, you will want to know that the difference you made and the song you sang will continue to resonate.  And with whom will it, if not with your own descendants?