There are so many things replacing the family these days - especially Mom and Dad. The family is our foundation, our earthly heaven, and, in my opinion, it is only through cultivating healthy families that we can save the world from poverty, war, violence, greed, crime, and environmental destruction.
"A false balance is an abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight." Prov 11:1
We should all beware of anything replacing the family but these things are so darn sneaky! I'm hoping this post will help you become a "Replacer Sleuth" seeking out, exposing and abandoning those goods and services designed to replace members of your family - even you!
Ever since modern humans felt they could through away our Mother in Heaven, it seems moms have been most under attack by the Replacers. Cribs, strollers, bouncy seats, play pins and the like have all been created to replace the arms of Momma. Abandon these things if you can, and if you cannot, use them with intention and in moderation. A healthy baby, is a baby in his or her mother's arms.
Day care, nannies, babysitters, schools, after care centers, etc all replace Mom's love, presence and attention. But mom can't be around 24/7, you may say, what about doctors appointments when Mom doesn't want to drag all of her children to the waiting room? Well, that's where grandmother's come in! If Mom isn't the one being replaced, grandma's, aunts and older sisters are!
Children are no longer trained in domestic arts, reading, writing and math by their mothers. They are shuffled off to government run institutions where they compete with classrooms full of 30-40 children for the attention they should be getting from their mothers. After school children come home to be educated and entertained by the TV.
When Mom goes to work she is often a Replacer herself, caring for children, doing secretary work, nursing ill people, caring for the elderly, teaching school children, crafting home items or toys, decorating, arranging flowers, sewing or designing clothes, cooking, serving meals or cleaning. What a backwards world we live in where Mom doesn't simply serve her own family in this function.
Mom isn't the only one being replaced though. Dad is also under attack by the Replacers. Where once fathers homesteaded land or worked from small family shops, our industrialized society has sent Dad far away, all day long. Son's rarely learn the family trade at their father's feet. Dad's five day a week absence is a mystery to many small children.
In Dad's spot is the TV for moral authority and guidance. Instead of learning about virtue, hard work, family values and love, today's youth are being raised with the moral standards of MTV and self-obsessed reality TV programming. The father-son hunt or gardening project has been replaced by video games.
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." Heb 12:9
So many good fathers are struggling to make ends meet in the corrupt corporate world which pays them nothing and respects them less. The government then steps in with food stamps and welfare money that some families desperately need to survive - but now the government is putting food on the table, not Dad. How humiliating for the hard working father that his family must be dependent on the system for support instead of on him.
Money itself replaces the role a father should play in his families life. Money becomes the the deciding factor in what the family can posses not the sweat of the father's brow or the creativity of his craftsmanship. A father can no longer use his intellect to trade, work or barter for his families needs, they are all placed in a limiting box with a huge dollar sign on the side.
Getting the family back on a healthy track is noble crusade and a difficult task. Where are you sleuthing out Replacers in your life? Can you think of some I may have missed? What can we do about it?
