Little Women
The highlight of my day was seeing my 12th-grade girls in small group tonight. The student ministry was throwing a “Barn Bash” of sorts, which included an abundance of flannels, cowboy hats, and line dancing. One kid even dressed up as a cow, a costume he made out of a cardboard box and spray paint.
My friend, Anna, has led this group since they were in sixth grade, and I joined the pack last year when I signed up to be a leader. When I started, I felt really out of my element. I had intentionally forgotten how encompassing schoolwork and extracurricular activities are for high schoolers, how incredibly stressful it is to be graded for everything you do.
I forgot how being busy is glorified, and being uninvolved is a cardinal sin. Performance seems to be the driving factor behind everything, and I can see why my generation has turned out the way we have— working and life are so intertwined and almost indistinguishable. It seems like we never stop working for promotions, for approval, for acceptance.
I glance at my own life and realize we’re not much different. I have plans for almost every night of the week most weeks, despite my evident fatigue. I’m so tired by the weekend, but it feels so good to be busy. Why is that? I still can’t figure it out.
I feel exhausted for my girls when they tell me everything they do in a 12-16 hour period. Thankfully, we get one night to put away our calendar apps, take a break from school and work and enjoy one another. These girls are so fun, spirited, snarky, and brilliant. They’re so intelligent and ambitious, yet compassionate and gentle at the same time. They remind me of the characters in Little Women. Does this make me Marmee?
I love how they are right on the cusp of becoming grown women— like grown, grown. It makes my heart hurt to see them enter the real world, but I already know that we’ll be regular, old friends with no noticeable age difference in a few short years. It’ll be glorious. Then they can quit making fun of me! ;)
Tonight, we discussed…
Exodus chapter 14 and how the Israelites didn't trust God to part the Red Sea. They watched God perform ten plagues against the Pharaoh and the Egyptian people, He protected and fought for them, but they doubted Him in the end. Thank God, His goodness doesn't rely on the faithfulness of His people.
We talked about the moments in our own lives that seemed impossible for God to fix. The way to "trust in the Lord with all your heart" and "lean not on your own understanding" is to remember the moments when He has been faithful.
We trust Him because His track record and character prove that we can trust Him. We even walked through some of the promises found in these verses:
It was a great discussion, and I'm proud they've opened up to the group about their doubts and struggles over the past year. I've seen their head knowledge transform into acts of faith, and their growth has been steady. I know it's not from anything I've done; God is just kind to let us be a part of it.