Fictional Wisdom

Popular youth fiction plays a role in the daily drama of our daughters’ lives as a place that they are drawn to over and over because living in the world of the story satisfies cravings deep within them.  Their hunger for the real thing, a Biblical view of the world and themselves, can not be satisfied by pop culture.  Adolescent girls’ developing sense of healthy skepticism will make it hard to simply throw the reasons for this gnawing hunger in their face.  Instead we can arm our daughters with the tools to discern and make good judgments.  You can lead a horse to water…you know the saying. 

            My objective here is not to give you tools to try to change your daughters’ behavior.  I am hopeful that this text instead gives you insight into how to show your daughters God’s unconditional love.  If we must measure something, we should measure how well we love our daughters, not how well our daughters behave; because they are individuals in their own right and will make decisions that we were desperately hoping they would not.  At least, I will try not to judge you simply by the choices your daughters make if you won’t judge me that way either.

I am a big fan of fiction, especially the fantasy genre.  I loved Lord of the Rings as a young girl.  I still love reading many of today’s best sellers (and even a romance or two, shhh!).   I say this so you will understand that I am not advocating that you never allow your daughters to read the latest best-sellers.  For some families that may be what God is calling you to do, even for a short time; but this is not the case for many families that I know.  “Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything,” (1 Cor. 6:12). None of us want to have our daughters leave our home unprepared for the world around them.  Even if you do not consider letting your daughters read many of the books popular in youth fiction while they are a tween or young teen, you might want to consider having them read at least some of the “popular” books with you while they are still under your guidance at home.   It is hard to know when is the right time to switch from sheltering our daughters from the world in a healthy God-fearing way to preparing them for the world by exposing them to it in a guiding God-fearing way.  You are the expert on your daughters and I will differ to your judgment on timing such things.

This blog intends to make your job of teaching your daughters discernment a little easier in order to reach her heart when the world is so desperately trying to convince her otherwise.  Hearts are important. If you can move a person’s heart you can influence their actions.  “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life, (Proverbs 4:23).”