Forgive me if you don't like hearing stories about my 8th graders. That's been my life this week.
Last night at church the lesson was on generosity. Not so much the typical "we need to give give give!", but why it's difficult to give & whats going on in our hearts to make us want to give or not. And y'all, these are 13 year old little people, so they we're not talking about giving money. It linked well back to last week's lesson about service. How can we intentionally, with a full heart, give our time and energy and money (what we have) away?
In our small group, a few of my girls opened up & dug deep into the convo. We talked a lot about why it was difficult to give. And most of them agreed that it's a self-confidence thing. That we, as young people in 2013, compare ourselves to everything and everyone else. That we want the best clothes and 5 pairs of Uggs and the newest iPhones, but we do NOT want to be known by our stuff. We have this yearning to be known for who we are, but we want to cover ourselves up with material things. And I find myself right there with them! How silly are we?
We also touched on how we are so selfish for absolutely no reason. What was funny was that everyone agreed we were selfish with our food! To be in Nashville where we can get whatever food we want at any time, we all don't like sharing it! It reminded me of the jungle in Peru when the group passed out candy to the children. Most of them saved at least one piece in their tiny little pockets to share with their mom and siblings. Try explaining to a 3 year old determined to share that chocolate will melt in their pocket in 90 degree weather, and they should just eat it now! But how precious were their hearts!
We ended last night with thinking of ways we could be generous. We had ideas ranging from "sharing my donuts at tennis practice" to "practicing patience with the boys beside me in Spanish class" to "sharing my candy with my little sister" to "taking some clothes to goodwill".
I just pray that we all, especially myself, have a giving heart in all circumstances. To exemplify Christ’s gentleness and kindness in giving our time, money, energy, stuff, and lives away.
Here’s some of these jungle babies I was talking about!
Last night at church the lesson was on generosity. Not so much the typical "we need to give give give!", but why it's difficult to give & whats going on in our hearts to make us want to give or not. And y'all, these are 13 year old little people, so they we're not talking about giving money. It linked well back to last week's lesson about service. How can we intentionally, with a full heart, give our time and energy and money (what we have) away?
In our small group, a few of my girls opened up & dug deep into the convo. We talked a lot about why it was difficult to give. And most of them agreed that it's a self-confidence thing. That we, as young people in 2013, compare ourselves to everything and everyone else. That we want the best clothes and 5 pairs of Uggs and the newest iPhones, but we do NOT want to be known by our stuff. We have this yearning to be known for who we are, but we want to cover ourselves up with material things. And I find myself right there with them! How silly are we?
We also touched on how we are so selfish for absolutely no reason. What was funny was that everyone agreed we were selfish with our food! To be in Nashville where we can get whatever food we want at any time, we all don't like sharing it! It reminded me of the jungle in Peru when the group passed out candy to the children. Most of them saved at least one piece in their tiny little pockets to share with their mom and siblings. Try explaining to a 3 year old determined to share that chocolate will melt in their pocket in 90 degree weather, and they should just eat it now! But how precious were their hearts!
We ended last night with thinking of ways we could be generous. We had ideas ranging from "sharing my donuts at tennis practice" to "practicing patience with the boys beside me in Spanish class" to "sharing my candy with my little sister" to "taking some clothes to goodwill".
I just pray that we all, especially myself, have a giving heart in all circumstances. To exemplify Christ’s gentleness and kindness in giving our time, money, energy, stuff, and lives away.
Here’s some of these jungle babies I was talking about!
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