There is a saying, “Appearance does not a man makes.” In other words, if you’re from a prosperous family, trained in the best schools, with a wonderful spouce, children who behave, and money to spend in restaurants and at the movies – you are respectable!  Do you believe and work toward that image?

There was a young, handsome medical doctor who always wore well-tailored clothing and the most expensive cologne. He was always invited to parties. He was invited to lecture because he was such a captivating speaker. You may have heard of Dr. Josef Mengele – better known simply as the “Angel of Death.”

Our handsome, gentleman doctor personally selected 400,000 prisoners to die in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. In 1986, I looked into cells that even today have eyeglasses stacked 2 meters high. I walked through the gas chambers where millions of Jews and Christians were brutally executed. Dr. Joseph Mengele performed horrible experiments on people, hoping to produce a superior race. One survivor said, “He would spend hours bent over his microscope while the air outside stank with the heavy odor of burning flesh from the chimney stacks of the crematoria.”

He had a special fascination for children who were twins. He would give them horrible injections, operate on their spines to paralyze them, and then begin removing parts of their bodies one at a time for experimentation.

You may have read the book, Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde. The author believed that every person has two characters – one good and one evil. In his book, Dr. Jeckle believes he can permanently separate his evil side from his good side by drinking a special potion. He succeeds becoming an evil Mr. Hyde. But when he wants to return to his good side – Dr. Jeckle – and he stops drinking the potion, he finds out that he cannot return to the 100% good Dr. Jeckle.

As parents we do everything we can to “window dress” our children and to make them acceptable to society and the world. We spend all kinds of money on the latest fashions, the best schools and memberships to the best health Clubs. But appearance does not a man make! Window dressing is not all bad if we spend as much time helping our children to be self-assured, confident young men and women of integrity. God’s standards, built into each of our children, will prepare them for a world that waits for their energy, enthusiasm and creativity.

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.