Guard His Eyes and You will Guard His Heart

 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8

When my oldest was was about three my husband and I purposed in our hearts to guard our son's eyes from images that would not honor the Lord. This has been quite the challenge considering the fact that everywhere you turn there are pictures of girls that are dressed in a manner that draws attention to their bodies instead of their countenance.

Sadly, their have been certain disney movies that we have had to take off of our "watch" list because our son told us "I shouldnt look at her because she isn't really that dressed."  This is an area that mothers can't live in denial about. Your son, if not guarded and protected, will struggle with this throughout his life and will not know how to combat this. We need to open up our eyes and see that there is a world full of lust and inappropriate images, screaming at our sons and if we don't guard their eyes and hearts those images will be permanently etched on their minds.

It is never too early to teach this to your sons. Some ways that we have done this is, first, we have simply been open to talk to him about it. Show your son(s) in God's word (Proverbs 4:32, 7:1-27; Psalm 119:9 and many others).  Also we have a code word that signals for him to look away (ours is feet, Jeremiah knows that when the girls or momma or even Daddy says feet, that he needs to look down) Finally, it is important to have some kind of internet protection (we use Covenant Eyes; but as a side note, we have found no reason for a young child to be on the internet without a parent sitting with them, except for the use of an internet homeschooling curriculum).

There is also an amazing book and Bible study called "The Squire And The Scroll" by Jennie Bishop, which is probably one of my son's favorite books.

Finally, I think it is important to remember that, in an ideal world, dad would be there to teach this to his sons.  However, I know that this is not always the case and, furthermore, this should never lessen momma's desire to see her son(s) grow in purity and holiness.  Very soon, our sons will become men with, God willing, families of their own. May we always remember that we are not raising boys...we are raising men.

Crowned With Joy,

LouAnn