Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone.
Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm Zach Weihrauch.
In today's episode, we're talking about tree climbing, and we're asking the question, does good parenting encourage risk?
This is coming from an article in the Atlantic I read recently about, how parents should be letting their kids climb trees, but it's really not about that at all.

Let me explain.
Eighty-one percent of adolescents worldwide are not getting enough physical activity, especially in wealthy countries, in countries where technology is readily accessible.
Kids are spending way more time inside, way more time on screens than they're actually spending being active or outside.
Sedentary childhood—childhood where you sit for most of it and you're on a screen—is actually not good for you.

Shocking, I know.
It leads to poor physical health, poor cognitive performance, and even can lead to depression in adulthood.
Other than that, it's fine.
The truth is that movement is part of what makes kids healthy.
They call it kinetic play.

It's part of what leads to a healthy childhood and a healthy adulthood.
In fact, kids who are more active, who use their body more are less likely to get injured in sports, less likely to struggle with creativity, and more likely to have better friendships.
In other words, getting outside is good for kids.
Now I don't want to focus only on parenting here because I think this is actually tapping into a larger cultural problem, which is fear.
I think what's driving parents' reluctance to have kids outside, to have kids climbing trees, whether those trees are literal or metaphorical, is that we're hardwired to want to protect.

A kid sitting on a couch on a screen is fundamentally, at least in the short term, safe, and as a result, requires less worry and less energy on our part.
So let me argue from a biblical perspective why you should be climbing trees and why you should be letting your kid climb trees.
That's right.
Why you should be risking as well as parenting to encourage some risk.
Here's the first one.

God designed our bodies to move, not sit.
That's a fundamental biological reality, but it's also a theological reality.
First Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that we should honor God with our bodies—movement, activity, health.
These things are part of what God designed us to do.
Had God wanted us to be sedentary creatures, he could have made us that way.

He didn't because he doesn’t.
Part of the reason we need to get outside and get moving is to be healthy and active the way God designed us to be.
Which means the next argument you have with your child about why screen time needs to be over and they need to be outside can be a theological conversation.
And the next time you try to encourage yourself to finally get serious about your physical health and activity, your inner monologue can be a theological discussion.
God designed us to be movers.

The other thing is that a fear of risk leads to laziness, and laziness leads to spiritual and physical poverty.
The writer of Proverbs says, “The sluggard does not plow in season.”
That's Proverbs 20:4.
In fact, Proverbs has a lot to say about the sluggard versus the hustler.
And the truth is that what we often call safe is really just laziness in disguise.

And I mean this both from a parenting and personal perspective.
When I am tired, when I am feeling like the work of parenting is too much, the easiest thing to do is to tell my kids, why don't you just get on a screen?
I know they'll be happy.
I know they won't fuss, and I know I won't have to do anything.
Also, the same reason when I'm not feeling great that I reach for my phone or the television remote.

But the thing is, moving past not feeling great involves doing something.
The Bible calls us to activity, to meaning, to purpose—not to go down the rabbit hole of laziness under the guise of safety.
I'll tell you what else.
Fearful parenting is not reflective of the spirit of God.
Second Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear.

Now I'm not telling you to tell your kid to climb on the roof or jump off a bridge, but I am saying this:
When we parent or when we self-govern, we often show what we really believe.
You can tell me all day long you think that God is sovereign, that God has determined the days of your child's life, the days of your life.
But if you live daily in fear—if the primary motive to saying yes or no to something is your perception of safety—then it's not God's sovereignty that you're fundamentally trusting in.
It's your ability to keep yourself or your children safe.

Yes, if you let your kids go outside and roam around the neighborhood, something bad could happen.
But so could it if you let them sit around.
It's just a question of immediacy or long-term.
Either way, we trust in God.

We do the best we can knowing that God is in control, knowing that he fundamentally is the one who keeps our children safe.
If we raise children or self-govern in a spirit of fear, we are telling ourselves what we really believe about God and his trustworthiness.
Tell you what else—wisdom means learning through managed risk, not total shelter.
The writer of Proverbs again is helpful here.
Proverbs 27:12 says, “The prudent see danger and take refuge.”

The book of Proverbs is not about total risk mitigation.
It's about wisdom.
Wisdom takes work.
It takes energy, which is why we tend to avoid it.
So I want to encourage you that the best path forward is not total safety or total danger.

This is not a podcast about you telling your children or yourself to be reckless, but it is saying, how do I hold activity and purpose and meaning and excitement in one hand while making sure I'm not tempting God on the other?
Not total risk, but also not total safety.
I'll tell you because eventually, the life you want for your child and for yourself is a life of adventure in following God.
And if you've cultivated a heart that only wants safety, boy, you're gonna miss that.
So go out and climb a tree yourself.

Get your kid climbing.
Stop living in fear.
I promise in six months, you will not regret it and you'll never want to go back.

Hey.
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