Hide (Andrews)

That which we have heard and known, and what our forefathers have told us, we will not hide from their children. 

 - From Psalm 78

Yesterday, my oldest daughter turned 25. During the past year, she has begun to comment on things happening to her, that I can only respond with "That's aging."

Aches and pains that have no explanation. 

A sense that there is not enough time to achieve her life goals. 

The sudden desire to take a nap at odd times. 

A gray hair. 

In my own twenties, I began to notice the onward march of the aging process, and how certain things can be organized into the decades of life. 

In your first decade, it's all about play.

In your teens, you seem to be able to make great strides physically, if you work on it. 

In my twenties, I could come home from work, in my suit and wingtip shoes, recline back in my Laz-Z-Boy, and fall deeply asleep.

In my thirties, I had my first high cholesterol reading and began to experience certain digestive . . . irregularities. 

In the forties, I had to really start watching what I ate, because of problematic results in blood sugar and blood pressure. 

In the fifties, my vision became more of a problem, and I lost the ability to stay up long hours into the night, when I used to be very productive. And I experienced the first medical procedure that an older friend had told me once "Wait til you see what they do to you when you turn 50!"

I just turned 60. I may circle around to some of my high school friends later, and ask them for advice. 

But 25, for my daughter, is a big deal. Sure, we say you can drive when you're 16, vote when you're 18, smoke and drink when you're 21, and rent a car when you're 25. But in an age that reverences "Science" so much, we do not reflect much, on the fact that your frontal cortex, the part of the brain that governs moral decision-making, is not fully developed until you're 25. Physiologically and biologically, a person should be fully and completely formed, for adulthood, when they hit 25. 

That's my daughter now. She is a Millennial. 

How have we spent the first twenty-five years of our kids' lives, in preparing them for adulthood?

Throughout Scripture, this point is hammered down, constantly - - - you have to proactively, and aggressively, teach your kids. But it isn't even just teaching them . . . it's reminding them. Share with them your own stories of faith, and of God's working in your life. Tell them honestly, about your own experience. They may have doubts about miracles from thousands of years ago. But you can openly discuss God's working in your life . . . just tell them. They'll figure out for themselves that it was all a bunch of miracles. In teaching, that's called Show, don't tell. 

We hide God from our kids. I hid God from my kids. I did not make God an intimate part of our lives. It is awkward to talk about God to them. That is my fault. 

But at the same time . . . this means ensuring that they hear about God and His workings on earth, and in our lives, everywhere. We do support the separation of church and state, and we do not force our beliefs on others . . . but there are creative ways to teach kids about the Lord . . . even while they are away from us, in school and college.

The world understands this about our development. By the time they are twenty-five years old, they have been influences by people that do not believe in God, or even hate Him, more than we have influenced them. They have spent more time around these people, in their classrooms and dorm rooms, watching their television and films, listening to their music. 

Even in Old Testament times, without all these distractions, we were admonished to talk about the Lord . . . constantly. 

The Psalmist frames the point as something we owe to our own forbears. Don't do it for our own peace of mind, or for accolades to ourselves. Don't even do it for the good of our kids. But share the love and plan of God to our kids . . . because we owe it to our own ancestors. We do not want the sacrifices that they made, to be in vain. 

So this is the challenge . . . let's take that magic number of "25". The implication is that there's still time, for a person that has not yet reached that age. They may be drawn to professors, celebrities, and friends during the formative first twenty-five years of life, because they perceive that these other influences, simply care more.