value

through a conversation i had with a friend last week, i began to ponder the value our society places on certain things. this is definitely something that came up in my mind a lot when i was living in Zambia. it was the topic of education that stirred these thoughts most recently. i have many friends, who homeschool their children. they have all expressed to me at different times their feelings of insecurity when it comes to giving their children everything they 'should' be getting in their education. after talking to my friend about this last week, it hit me that we as followers of Christ need to be confident in not placing value where the world does. the world of education says, 'these are the facts that a child should know by a certain age'. the reality in our world as Christians is that none of this matters if the child does not have a strong foundation in Christ. of course, we want them to be successful and competitive in the world market, but for young children, the most important thing is that they are developing a relationship with the Lord and learning to become respectful, responsible, secure individuals who know what they believe.

something that i also became more acutely aware of while i was in Zambia is that we, as a society, place a lot of value on status, position, titles, credentials. it was pretty shocking to be in a place where suddenly you have none of that and what you do have, in those terms, doesn't mean anything. i realized that i had come to find my identity partially in those things. it's great to have those things, but so important to know who you are outside of them and how you would survive without them. it all ties into character i think. i've heard it said that character is who you are when no one is looking. it's also who you are when all of those 'identifiers' are taken way...just the stripped down you with no cover-ups, nothing to hide behind.