Round the Sphere Again

A couple of goodies I've read in the couple of days since I returned from holidays.

Al Mohler comments on Richard Louv's new book, Last Child in the Woods, in Have Children Forgotten How to Play Outdoors?

In this book, Richard Louv is articulating what many of us have been thinking. I recognize that my own boyhood is far removed from that of my son. It seems as if the world has been drastically changed. I grew up in neighborhoods that were typically suburban. Nevertheless, the woods were always nearby. For me, the "woods" included untamed tracts of land that were awaiting future suburban development. Nevertheless, this land was filled with trees, swamps, creeks, snakes, crawdads, and all the creeping and crawling things that used to call boys out into the woods.

I've seen a difference between how my oldest children grew up and how my youngest one has. My oldest three roamed the neighbourhood and the nearby bush from time they were quite young, catching frogs, picking berries, making snow forts. It was something all children did as a matter of course. And they played outside for some of every single day unless it was too cold, and too cold was somewhere down around 25 below.

By the time youngest son came around, there were too many people who had moved in from the city, too many stories of faraway children snatched, and the sort of neighbourhood roaming that the older children did was no longer allowed by most parents. All we're doing, I suppose, is trying to keep our children completely safe, but we rob them of something they need - a familiarity with the natural world, one of the wonderful gifts created for us to enjoy. More from Al Mohler:

This is our Father's world, and we would do well to receive this world and enjoy it, while giving praise and glory to God for the beauty and bounty it contains. We understand that nature is not an end to itself, and we affirm that the creation exists as the theater of God's glory for the drama of redemption. All this should help Christians to remember that we honor God most faithfully when we receive His good gifts most gratefully.

Christians should take the lead in reconnecting with nature and disconnecting from machines. Taking the kids for a long walk in the woods would be a great start.

Is what's on the T.V. or computer screen more real to your children than the natural world?

Kim of The Upward Call shares the story of how she came to Christ. It's not finished yet, but here are parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.