Two-year-old Avi had been warned she was not to pick flowers in Nana’s yard without permission. Still, she made a beeline for the lilacs again, which she was convinced were “grapes.”
I asked her not to pick any lilacs this time, and then I had a brilliant idea — or so I thought.
“Avi, look at all these pretty yellow flowers in the grass! You can pick as many of those as you want!” I encouraged her. She trotted off to check out the dandelions.
It was a no-go. Leaving the undesirable yellow flowers behind, Avi wound her way back to her Daddy and me, whining.
“What’s up, Av?” we asked. Eventually we got a semi-comprehensible reply.
“But … but … Pwincesses like flowahs!”
Avi has the same problem every child has — the same problem, in fact, that every human being shares. As much as I love my darling granddaughter, she is, in the words of Paul David Tripp, a “glory thief.”
Children are not basically good, as pop psychology would have us believe. All you have to do is observe a toddler who has entered full-on melt-down mode over sharing a toy, and the “basically good” theory drifts away like the morning mist.
Children, and adults, are basically selfish. We want things our way. We want control. We want others to bow to our wishes. And we want to look good while we do all of that.
In other words, we want the glory.
Problem is, glory belongs to God, not to us. When we try to steal it from him, our worship disorder is revealed. That’s what happens every time your child pitches a fit, or quietly goes his own way instead of obeying.
There’s a cure for this disorder, a remedy for our condition. It’s the gospel. And one way the gospel takes root in the hearts of your children is when they experience creation again and again.
God made a big, beautiful world to reveal his glory to us.
Though we haven’t yet seen him face to face, we see his power in thunderstorms and crashing ocean waves. We see his magnificence in a breath-taking sunset, his creativity in a spider’s fragile web.
Your child needs to experience and appreciate the natural world on a regular basis in order to come to know God better.
In Parenting: 14 Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family’s Life, Paul David Tripp writes,
“The only solution to your child’s addiction to his own glory is to introduce him to a greater glory. Human beings were meant to live in a life-shaping awe of the existence and glory of God and when we don’t, we don’t live in the way we were designed to live. Our job as a parent is to open the eyes of our children to the stunning glory of God. Our job is to help our children be so blown away by God’s glory that they find joy in submitting to his rule.”
This is why it’s so critical that your children spend time outdoors.
Yes, fresh air and exercise and sunshine are all good things. But this cure for self-glory addiction is the biggest reason to let your children romp on the lawn and watch the birds while you remind them where this all came from.
Take your kids camping. Go to the park. Look for moments when you can teach them about God and his amazing creation.
Why spend time in nature? Because every “Pwincess” needs to see a glory greater than her own.
