You Spoiled Brat!

Did you know we are all spoiled brats? That’s right. I’m not just talking about our children raising spoiled brats. They are spoiled to be sure. The electronic age children are in some way connected to an electric source. I do not presume to understand even half of it. When I was young, I knew all about stereos. Not so today. The kids come over to connect it up these days.
Most children today have their own computers. They have Leapfrogs, touchscreen chess or sudoku, iPods, MP3 players, Blackberries (and that is not food), video games, hand-held games, Wii, and so much more that I don’t even know about. Children, ages 1-6, spend as much time on video games as they do playing outside. And where do you suppose they get these games from? From parents who assume that, “All the other children have them.”
It seems that every time a child graduates from any grade, mom or pop will shell out a bucket full of money to purchase the latest and greatest gadgets. Spoiled? You bet your life on that one, but so are we with our 52" TV. Talking about graduations. What is this about having a limo to drive the grade eight students to the school and then has a major party for them after? When we kids graduated, our parents came home that evening and said, “Good job” and then went to make supper and read the paper. And that was high school!
Young adults are the same. Have you seen their newest toys? I can’t believe that someone would pay to listen to music on the radio? I only know of one young person who has purchased the base model from the car line. Sorry, that should read, the parent purchased for the “Sixteen year old’s birthday.” It scares me to hear of young people going out and buying a new house with a 100% mortgage on a 50-year mortgage. On tv just last night the real estate lady told the couple, “don’t worry about the total amount owing, just think of what the bank thinks you can afford monthly.” No wonder housing prices are so high. It is one scary world out there where the kids, just out of universities, need to have the four bedroom houses.
On Friday I realized how right King Solomon was. It happened as I visited an elderly lady. So content to have her own room, she sat there and just enjoyed the pictures of her children scattered about around. Maybe it is something about going full circle. We came into the world with nothing and go out with the same.
When we read Ecclesiastes we discover it to be saying all the things in life that we strive for are meaningless. In our world, we have grown so accustom to having what we want that we think life is not fair if we don’t get it. Throughout this Old Testament book, he tells us that everything is meaningless, except for one thing. Honour God!
As adults we think life is not fair when we do not get our way, when we are not happy all the time. We never expect to grow old and at the same time we need to be constantly entertained and have the ease and luxury of kings and queens. Just look at the sizes we call our beds. In chapter twelve verse one we read, “Remember your Creator.”
Life Sucks! - And Then You Die! With one exception, God. God alone makes the difference in life that no “thing” ever can. Remember this line, “The boy who dies with the most toys, STILL DIES.” We don’t need things. We need God. You see God gives us hope, and meaning in life. He demonstrates true love, and stands with us when we can’t stand for ourselves. And as with Solomon, when all else in life fails to move us, God is still there, blessings our lives with only, His presence.
Rob