Monday morning soap box

Ok, everybody now, in your best Michael Buffer voice, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event (boxing bell rings and drums and trumpets start). Let’s get ready to rumblllllllllllle!”

           

             I’m a bit peeved this morning and I must share. I was at the gym this morning (stop laughing). See, my son and I have been getting up at 5:30, 4 days a week to work out before school. Sometimes we go to the school and shoot and sometimes we go to the gym and do cardio. It’s early for me, I know not for some of you, but it is for me. So maybe I was in a bad mood already and just took this commercial wrong on the TV. It was from a local orthodontist whom I have patronized for one of my children. I am going to quote the commercial and then rant for a few paragraphs before retreating to take on the day. I know it’s a sales pitch but considering what I have been teaching and preaching for most of my life as a minister it just struck a tired, sleep deprived, impatient towards this sort of thing, nerve. You are welcome to comment your disapproval of my opinion. Here is the quote.

            “We all know that beauty comes from the inside. When you feel good on the outside, you feel good on the inside.”

            Now, the last sentence standing on its own doesn’t bother me one bit. But placing the first sentence in front makes all the difference for me. There is an implication there, unless I’m still just mad at Fort Loudon for allowing my power to go out in the middle of the night, that the beauty on the inside comes somehow from the outside. That’s a lot BACKWARDS! You may not deal with people that struggle with how they look. You may have never had to tell a teenager that there is nothing wrong with them when seemingly all of society is saying, “Yes there is.” You may have not dealt with a woman who has been berated by her husband for not, “being in shape”. I’m telling you, pep talks only go so far. Or what about young adults who lived with parents that always pointed out their shortcomings and never celebrated their strengths and so all they see in the mirror is failure. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, this bothers me!

A young man that is in middle school that isn’t as tall as my son was when he was in third grade. Have you listened to how brutal middle schoolers can be? And so he struggles daily with how he feels on the outside sometimes to the point of feeling hopeless about his situation.

A young lady who doesn’t wear war paint to school and dress to the nines and the other girls and possibly the guys make up a name for her so she feels less than adequate. She is afraid of telling her parents so she experiments on her own only to find out she can’t figure it out so she retreats further into a lonely place.

Now, I expect my son and my daughter to dress nice and practice good hygiene. But not because society says so but because it’s the right thing to do. I tell ya something else I expect of them. That is to treat every person they come in contact with as an equal human being. They are no better just because they were born into better circumstances. They very well could’ve been born in a poverty stricken family that only cared about getting by and not trying to excel. They could’ve had parents that were crack heads or alcoholics. But they weren’t and they didn’t. They’re not entitled, they are blessed. And that doesn’t give them certain rights but, in my opinion, that gives them more responsibility.

I said this yesterday and it deserves repeating. Girls/ladies, if you are fishing for men with your body then you are making a life altering mistake. Trust me, you will catch one. But if you catch him with your body then you will have to keep him with your body. And unless something is found that isn’t available now, when you are 30-35-40-50, you aren’t going to look as good as you did when you were a teenager or 20 something. I’m sorry no one has told you that before but it is true.

Guys, if you want to catch a good, Godly, wholesome young lady, what do you think she is going to be attracted to. Your car? Your clothes? Nah!!! Even you know better.

Listen folks, look YOUR best, practice good hygiene, and if you can afford it, get your teeth fixed (this really isn’t about the commercial but that was simply the tipping point). But if you aren’t spending the same amount of time on your spirit and your soul, you’re not much of a catch yourself. How much do you pray and read your bible.

Stop looking for the right person and instead become the right person. Be satisfied with Jesus and then a partner will simply make a great life even better. Become irresistibly Holy, Humble, and Honest. Then you will have a new problem; who to choose fromJ.

I don’t have all the answers but these have been the expectations that Tammy and I have placed on our kids. They aren’t perfect either (shhhhhhhh, don’t tell Tammy that. Remember, she doesn’t read this) but I have to believe and hope that part of it sank in.

Parents, encourage your children to dream big and work at it. Believe and expect the best. More importantly, set the example you want them to follow. True beauty comes from the inside. Period!

Pastor Dad