Am I pleased with who I am? Are you? Are our children?

Success in life, relationships and personal contentment is not primarily dependent upon talent, good looks, racial background, money, the right education or the right connections. Often we measure success by standards that have been set by the media. Those with money, cloths, cars, homes and good connections flock to plastic surgeons who will transform their bodies into the shape of the rich and famous. What will make us content? When our children see us looking at exteriors to satisfy an inner need for self assurance, what is the message they learn as reality?

In 1987, I traveled throughout the old Soviet Union. Communism and socialism was to have transformed the old Russian bureaucracy into a utopia of wealth shared by the masses. What did I see? Entire cities of several million people had only one main-frame commuter in the university. University students had formed an extensive underground entrepreneurial organization. One system replaced another. Was there satisfaction? No! Within a year of my visit, the Berlin wall fell and again one system was replaced by another.

Today, population movement demonstrates that satisfaction is based on externally stimulated messages and impressions. Folks move from the mountains to cities in order to make more money in jobs that are easier. Barefoot boys playing along riverbeds buy shoes, western style cloths, a briefcase and dream of a computer. The successful businessman breaks down in the glamorous world of flying to all parts of the world, eating rich foods in extravagant restaurants, driving cars that need computer technology to repair, leaves everything and moves to the country where he can run barefoot along a wilderness riverbed. What brings personal satisfaction?

Those of us of the Judeo-Christian faiths believe God’s creation story as told in Genesis 1. “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness … God saw all He had made, and it was very good.” We are made in God’s image! Every day God looks at us (His creation) and says, “He (she) is very good!” Believe it! You and your child are very good! Cloths, money, face lifts and connections do not make us. This is where self-esteem starts and ends. Self-esteem will drive me to take the gifts and talents I have and multiply them, but it is never the end product that provides lasting value. It is my belief that God made me just as I am to accomplish what He has for me to do today. Believe it and help your children to believe in themselves.

None of us are perfect as individuals – nor are our marriages perfect. As we work together to maintain our love and a strong marriage, our homes will be a good environment for growing and happy children.