I just don’t know who or what to believe anymore! Have you ever found yourself thinking or saying this out loud regarding what you encounter or social media. With advances in AI generated content and the ways in which we as individual users can create content on social media, those of us who are concerned about the accuracy of what we see oftentimes leaves us scratching our heads while muttering, “Is that true?” The reality is that we are living in a world where the prevalence of falsehood is on the rise, as well as the chances for each of us to be scammed or duped. A new report from the Pew Research Center tells us that a fifth of U.S. adults now regularly get their news on TikTok, a figure which is up sharply since 2020. In fact, forty-three percent of adults under the age of thirty say they regularly get their news from TikTok, which is up from nine percent in 2020. While we can’t tell you where to go to find trusted truth online, we can tell you to beware, and to warn your kids to do the same.

We just celebrated Valentine’s Day, that holiday that’s traditionally filled with red hearts, cupid’s arrows, rose bouquets, and chocolates. Many of our younger kids had the opportunity to share those cute little Valentine’s Day cards with their classmates. I remember bringing home a bag filled with twenty to thirty cards every year when I was a kid. And while Valentine’s Day was all about love, I have to admit that my young mind really didn’t understand what romantic love actually was. How about taking some time this week to throw out these questions at the dinner table in order to give all your kids an opportunity to truly understand romantic love. How did God lead you to the person you married? What is one piece of marriage advice that you think it’s important for kids to hear? How does the Bible define love versus what we see in the movies? How does a married couple stay together through difficult times? And what does God want us to know about marriage?

I remember being a young kid and singing these words in church: "Are you weak and heavy-laden? Burdened with a load of care?" As parents, there have been times when all of us have had to honestly answer "Yes". At other times, the "Yes" comes from dear friends who are locked into periods of unimaginable burden-bearing. Difficulty is to be expected as we are all sinners living in a broken world. If you take the time to read Hebrews 12 you will find words on sonship and the Lord's discipline. God disciplines those He loves. We are reminded that while we may be feeling crushed by the weight of our present burdens, God is present and at work. Remember the words of Hebrews 12:11 - "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Parents, remember that while you are parenting your children, God is parenting and forming you, especially during the hard times.