Trash in, Trash Out...

I was at JC Penney at Hanes Mall yesterday. As I'm walking through the store, I hear this little sing song voice nearby trying to recite the words to a song...."F -E -R - G- A - L - I - C- O-U-S....I'm so delicious, I ain't promiscuous..." so of course, my attention was caught. I look over in the direction of the little girl and I see her, in the words of my aunt, jirating around, swinging her hips and dancing. Cute right? Why did it repulse me? Maybe the words to the song? Maybe the mom standing there laughing, encouraging the little girl? Maybe it was the fact that this little girl has already been exposed to something far beyond her years. I go out of my way to avoid songs like that. Some people can listen to that stuff all day long and not be affected (yeah, right), but I'm not one of them. Music, TV, books...they all affect me. They affect the way I think, the way I think about myself, others, my self esteem, you name it. For a (maybe 4 year old??) little girl to be singing about promiscuity, turned my stomach.

A couple of years ago I adopted the term, trash in, trash out. Our minds are like cameras. When we experience something with any of our 5 senses, we catalog that experience. Whether a sight, sound, smell, taste, feeling, etc, we catalog that. Pornographic images and obscene language tend to be those things we file away to retrieve for later use the most...whether we intend to or not. Sometimes, things we are exposed to aren't necessarily things we want to be exposed to, regardless, we catalog that, it's how our brains work. When we continually expose ourselves to trash, that's what ends up filling our brains the most. Maybe it's a TV show (toe stomping on some folks here I know, but....Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Nip Tuck...etc...I could go on and on), the music we listen to in our cars, or the people we hang around with. Whatever it is...we have to ask ourselves...does this give honor and glory to God?? Does this lend to my own sin, my own sinful thoughts, actions??

You know, it's one thing to expose myself to that stuff, I will have to answer to that one day, when I stand before God...but what do I expose my child to? My family? Do I lend to their sin? Their sinful thoughts, actions, words?? Children are so impressionable...what she watches, listens to and even wears, is shaping her mind. It will affect how she ultimately carries herself, feels about herself and will affect her walk with God in the future. So, why not build up her self esteem now...knowing that she is God's child, beautiful and made whole in Christ? Why not expose her to music and tv that glorifies the one that made her? Do we let her do secular activities, watch secular TV...you betcha. Some stuff out there is perfectly safe (depends on one's definition of safe...we are VERY particular in our house), and some slips little things in that aren't appropriate for 8/9 year old little girls and boys. And the things that aren't (yes, we watch with her), we use as lessons.

Do I think my child and family will be safe from trash? No! Satan is everywhere, lurking in every corner, waiting to drive his wedge in to render us useless for God. But when we stay guarded, limiting the trash in and knowing when Satan is approaching, we can stay victorious in God and be useful for His kingdom. We are trying to raise our family wise to the world, but centered on the God who made it :)