Irreplaceable

The casualty

So, this was the damage done.  We recently had a hot dog roasting at church.  It was a chilly day and my seven-year old was wearing his best big coat -- a red and black jacket with logos from his favorite team, the Georgia Bulldogs.  Somewhere in the process of roasting a hot dog, he brushed  up against the metal fire pit.  Thus, the melting began.  It burned this whole in the jacket.  As some of the men gathered around and I found out from my wife about the incident, one of them said, "At least it was just a Georgia jacket."  I said, "What do you mean?" thinking that was a knock on our team.  He responded, "And not a kid."  And that's right.  Jackets can be replaced.  Kids can't.  Jackets can be patched up.  Kids can't.

As parents, it's so easy to fall prey to the materialism of our culture without realizing it.  We ascribe value to things that essentially have no value.  1,000 years ago if you burned a hole in the cloth covering you wore as a coat, that was a good reason to make you another one.  People have value.  Things really don't.  Every parent knows this, but we forget it -- easily.

This Christmas, some child is going to break something that was very expensive.  They're going to drop the iPad or iPhone.  They're going to step on the new train set.  He's going to rip a hole in those new jeans playing touch football at Grandma's.  She's going to get glitter-glue all over that new sweater.  They're going to throw a baseball through the new 3D HDTV.  Some kid is going to lose a toy they just got.  It's going to happen in the next three days somewhere.  It might happen to you.  Our temptation is going to be to get furious.  "Don't you know how much that costs?!"  But it can be replaced.  We live in a culture that decided those things are expensive.  But they're not.  You can go right down to the store and buy another one just like it.

Now, responsibility and accountability are important life lessons.  Kids need to be taught to value things and take care of stuff.  Money does not grow on trees, and being responsible for the things that are ours is an important part of growing up.  However, understanding the things on which you cannot put a price tag is a more important lesson.  Technology is a wonderful thing.  Advances in engineering and media have made our lives better, simpler and faster.  But they are just things.  Things that will break. Things that will be repaired.   Things that will be replaced.  I struggle with this at Christmas, when it seems like a competition between parents as to who can get their kids the most valuable toys.  I struggle with the expectations of my children because at a young age they already have an appetite for things the world says are valuable.  I want them to have nice things.  I want them to go crazy when they open a present.  I want them to be proud of and responsible with their things.  But more than anything else, I want them to know that they are valuable.  People are valuable.  People -- not iPads, not HDTVs, not the latest lego set, not designer clothes, not Kindle Fires, not cars, not houses, not even red & black UGA jackets -- are made in the image of God.  We don't believe Jesus died for things.  Jesus died for people because people matter.