Do you value children?

Our society does not.

There are literally multitudes of things that I could point out that prove over and over again the way our society devalues children. However, today I want to share with you a very personal story that illustrates it perfectly.

I know I tend to get on a soapbox about things that I am passionate about. I know sometimes my family thinks I am nuts. Sometimes I think I am nuts. However, every single thing I am passionate about comes back to one thing - children. Orphans, vaccines, proactive health and nutrition, birth control, abortion, homeschooling, marriage - it all comes back to children and family. The very thing our culture is so bent against.

Tuesday afternoon, the kids and I decided to go see Voyage of the Dawn Treader at the theater. Mostly, I was trying to get my mind off of what I was going to face on Wednesday (see the next post if you don't know what I mean). We waited until Patrick was ready for his bottle and nap and then we headed to a nearby theater. This particular place is fairly new in town. It is an "upscale" movie theater, with leather seats, a restaurant, and though they do serve popcorn and soda, they also serve wine and cheese. We have been there only once before and the reason I chose it this time is because I had a gift card for three of the tickets we needed to purchase. It was twelve noon, and when we bought our tickets there was not another seat sold for the show we were going into (you choose your seats at the ticket booth). The theater was completely empty. We went in and ordered our popcorn.

Just as the young man behind the counter was about to hand it to me, I heard a screeching voice behind me yell, "You can't go in there with that baby!"

I turned around to see the lady who was emptying the garbage cans, yelling at me and the kids about our 8 month old. He gave her a big grin, but she didn't even acknowledge that, she screeched again, "It says so right on the sign, do you want me to show it to you? No children under three are allowed here!"

I was positively speechless.

I think had it not been for the emotions roiling around inside of me on this particular day, I would have opted to wait for the police to come and tell me why, if I was willing to purchase a ticket for him, I could not take my baby into a public movie theater to see a children's movie, with the rest of my children. An empty movie theater at that, where it would have been totally impossible to inconvenience another patron in any way.

However, because of what I was facing the next day, and the emotions that I simply could not control, much to my dismay I felt my eyes filling with tears. I could not get one word to come out. My kids, too, had no idea what to say or do; except Patrick, he kept laughing and grinning at this unbelievably nasty lady.

I looked at the young man (kid really) behind the popcorn counter and said, "Well, I guess we need a refund then, don't we?"

He just shook his head, open mouthed. "I am so sorry," he whispered, calling for a manager to come give us our money back.

When who I assume was the manager arrived, she looked questioningly at me, still speechless, and then to the young man. "They won't let her in with the baby." he said.

The manager shook her head as well, "That is so stupid." she said, as she gave me my money.

I just turned and walked out. I do tend to cry when I am angry and it takes me a minute to pull myself together, but on this particular day, the tears were way too close to the surface, and I just could not get myself together.

We drove immediately to the "normal" theater (where we will always go from now on), went in and saw the movie. The baby slept the entire time, just as I knew he would and disturbed no one. In fact, when we left, the people who saw him looked surprised that he had been there at all.

I tell you this story, not only to vent my frustration and to tell my "real life" friends that I think we should all avoid the Silverspot Theater, but mostly I just think this is a sad, sad representation of how our society views children, and babies in particular. My son was not viewed as a person that day. We were told we had to leave a public place, where we had payed money to be, simply because of his age. He had done nothing wrong, nothing disturbing to others, yet we were turned away simply because "no babies are allowed."

What an opposite reaction Jesus had when the disciples tried to turn the little children away and He responded, "Let the little children come to me, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."

We are on our way to being a society that completely sequesters our children and our elderly. Once that transition is complete, I shudder to think what will become of us.

Do you value children? Do you look at each and every one as a gift from God, whether they are yours or someone else's? Do you know that without children, we are doomed as a race of people. Without children, there is no future - there is no tomorrow.

This story is really silly on the grand scale of things. I could talk about abortion or child abuse, and I have talked about those things. This story, though, illustrates the subtle ways that the devaluing happens. It happens a little at a time and no one notices or cares enough to make a big deal about it.

What will you do today to show Jesus that you value what He values? Namely, His precious little ones.