We're Back!

We are now back in the swing of Sunday morning youth group, and I'm so excited for it! After a fun Rally Day of games and guidelines (and our 5 Minutes of God Time), we spent our first "real" week thinking both backwards and forwards. We took a few minutes to remember a wonderful woman we lost this last summer, thinking of which words we associated with Terri. All of them were positive-- song, joy, optimism, courage, welcome, Christ-follower-- which is what anyone who knew Terri would expect. This launched us into a discussion about traits and characteristics:

• Some traits are inherent, such as introversion/extroversion or restlessness/placidity (think about how some babies are simply content, while others want to move and explore)
• Some traits are ingrained in us by our families, such as respect for others or neatness
• Others are won by life circumstances, such as needing extraordinary determination to achieve a goal or learning humility the hard way (like Pope Francis)

But why were we talking about this in the first place? Not because we want to make ourselves "perfect" or "fix ourselves"- as children of God, we are already loved in an eternal, divine way that we can do nothing to earn. Our "fix" came through Jesus, and perfection is out of reach for any of us mortals. But even knowing this, we still have an inner need to improve ourselves- we might pray for the patience to deal with a difficult sibling rather than allow our short tempers to continue the conflict or we might search for a silver lining to comfort a hurting friend. And we do this because all of us have seen firsthand how certain behaviors improve (or damage) the world around us. Not surprisingly, many of the traits we gravitate toward are traits recommended by the bible:

Photo by Carmen

I was originally going to list all of our words and link them to specific bible verses. But then I realized that you guys are more than capable of reading the list and then going to www.biblegateway.com and searching for a specific word. Seriously, it's really easy and good practice! :)

Why should you take the (minimal) effort? Because lots of us have a general list of achievements we want to accomplish and many of us have a "Bucket List" of things we want to do before we die- get a medical degree, visit the Eiffel Tower, bungee jump, get a tattoo, whatever. But we don't usually make ourselves a Moral Bucket List- we admire traits in others, but sometimes feel like they are out of reach for us. We might come across someone who is so brilliantly patient that it makes us want to be more patient. We reflect on what sort of dedication a particular teacher showed or admire the confidence of another. But then we leave it at that short-lived admiration and refuse to take the next step.We're missing out on an incredibly important aspect of our lives, one that has a very real impact on those around us (for example: why YOU admire THEM in the first place). Thus, the encouragement to start thinking about what you value in others, what you see as making the world a better place, and then figuring out how it applies best to you.

Now, it's equally important to realize that while you might find every trait on that list to be a good trait, it doesn't mean you have to try to embody them all- or all at once. I love to sing (in private), but I won't be hurt in the slightest if you don't associate the word "song" with me. It won't stop me from singing (again, in private) and it won't stop me from loving that you guys chose that as a word to describe Terri. The word not applying to me doesn't diminish my appreciation for it. You probably feel that way about others on this list. That's fine!

In that spirit, I asked you to write down a few (no more than 5) of those traits, the traits that most stood out to you, the traits you most want to embody (prioritize, people!). Then I asked you to write down ONE step you would take for each of those traits to become more like that kind of person. Maybe you want to be more patient, so you will count to ten before responding to your sibling; maybe you will try to envision the situation from their point of view before responding (patience AND empathy). The traits and the choices are up to you!

And that was it! So tell me: two weeks in, how are you doing on your list?

5 Minutes of God Time: Live Like That by Sidewalk Prophets