Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

This past weekend at youth group, the devotional lesson discussed how we feel about people in our world. If someone calls you, or stops to visit or does something else nice for you, those people we call our friends and we feel good towards them for thinking about us. It is as though we are important to them and aa special part of their lives. On the reverse if someone takes away that contact, or neglects to be there in our time of need, we don’t think to ourselves that they just forgot or didn’t have time. No, we think that WE aren’t important enough for them to be a part of their life.

Isn’t it funny how we turn the blame upon ourselves when others don’t take time for us? Oh boy, have I been there! In fact, this lesson sounded with the kids because it happens at that age on almost a weekly basis. Remember those days when on Monday you had a different set of friends than you did by the time Friday came rolling around? The turmoil in friendships tend to be one of the hardest things that young people can go through at times. In the end, our lesson discussed how God feels that way as well, when we turn against him and He no longer becomes a priority in our lives. And that is a lesson that is good for both young and old.

Now while we are discussing young people, in another group that I was at over the weekend, we talked about how tough it is to be a parent. No matter if that had been years ago or today, being a parent is hard to do. We all make mistakes and there are times when we feel that we are fighting an uphill battle. I have great respect for people who take the time to parent and are well aware that at times they may not have always been on the winning end of the parent/child battle. As a parent, we all hope that we are doing the right thing and help our children grow up, mostly mistake free, yet, still allowing them the opportunity to grow and succeed and fail as has to happen for one to grow.

One item that I often wonder about is what are we doing as parents when church isn’t a priority in our own lives and we don’t instill that in our children. Oh, I know that Sunday morning can be one of the few times we have to sleep in, and sure, there are many times when other activities take place that keep us from going to church on Sunday morning, but what message are we sending our own children?

Today’s children grow up in an “instant’ society. Everything they have is at their fingertips. They don’t have to wait until the next day to talk to a friend at school, or write a letter to that friend living far way, instead today, they have everyone within the timeframe that it takes to send and receive a text message. Do you suppose that this “instant” attitude be a reason why we see shrinking Sunday School and youth numbers in church involvement? God works on His own time, not ours, and not all of His acts take place in an instant.

Honestly I don’t remember at this hour where I was going with all of this, mostly because the heat of the day has made my brain a little fuzzy now that I’ve arrived back home in the comfort of the air conditioner, but perhaps the real lesson here for all of us, is that growing up and being a parent are both hard things to do. In the end we need to set a good example for our children and remember that sometimes when we are lonely and feel as though we aren’t important to anyone, maybe we need to reach out ourselves in those times when we can. It sort of makes sense doesn’t it? That never ending circle of life and we all must do our part.
Remember, you’re not alone, and you are loved, and you need to pass that along to everyone you meet, because God loves you and wants us to treat others with that same love and respect. Certainly a little bit of that could really go a long way in your house and community couldn’t it?
See you next week…and as always…we’re all in this together.