Skip the Wipe Warmers

By Hally Franz –

Recently Natalie Portman accepted the Oscar for Lead Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in Black Swan. She looked gorgeous in her designer gown and jewelry—a stunning mother-to-be on the red carpet. Pregnancy is very stylish for women today, including those who aren’t celebrities. Maternity clothes are now available in a range of colors, rather than plain pastels with bows, and they have shape, unlike the old-fashioned smock.

Not only are future mommies donning trendy clothes, their infants are living in style upon arrival too. In my circle there has been a run on babies lately. Consequently, I’ve attended several baby showers in the last few months. These precious little ones have it made.

There was a time when baby shower gifts included basics like diapers, sleepers, pacifiers, lotions, baby blankets, rattles and bottles. Now, newborns are welcomed home to private baby-sized bathing spas, state-of-the-art music and security systems, nurseries decorated with the most soothing and, simultaneously, the most stimulating walls, mobiles, and playthings, and environmentally-friendly and organically-inspired diapers. My favorite of the modern baby necessities are the wipe warmers, designed specifically to prevent the little love morsels from experiencing the traumatizing chill of a straight-from-the-box wet wipe. Wow!

At the risk of sounding terribly old school, could we be taking things a little far when it comes to pampering (pardon the pun) our children? I remember my sister and me begging Dad to turn on the air conditioning by the time July rolled around, and wearing layers all winter. My children dwell in a temperature-controlled environment. When I was a child a Saturday evening treat meant a ride to town and an ice cream cone, but today meals at McDonald’s are standard operating procedure. My summers were long and boring; my children’s are busy with camp and pool visits, the county fair and family vacation.

Honestly, I would probably use the wipe warmers if I had a baby in my home too. The truth is most children are blessed and comfortable, more entertained and worldly-wise than they need to be. Parents naturally tend to do and give more where our children are concerned. So our real challenge is to instill in them a grateful and giving spirit, a sense of appreciation for the blessings they’ve been given and of responsibility to serve and give back to others.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, how You have blessed us in America! Please help me to always be grateful for those blessings, to be giving to others, and to raise children who are appreciative and generous Christians.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7 NIV).

Today’s devotion is by Hally Franz. Hally is a former high school guidance counselor, turned homemaker. Hally sees each day as a new exercise, where routines change and weights vary. Her goal is to maintain all-around fitness for service, while training her children to be competitive, compassionate and Christ-like in the world in which we live.