Teenage Wisdom

I am always perplexed by the insights I gain from my teenage children. I was thinking about how hyper-sensitive they are to what other people think about them. If a teenager, and I am not naming names, doesn't have the proper attire that is a cause to skip school. You can not go to class if your new. You can't go to class if you've worn your only clean shirt already once this year unless its your absolute favorite and then you can wear that up to three times a week but not four or five. You can't go to class unless you drive a cool car or truck and if you have to have a ride from your parent-- you can only go if you get to drive up to the school or are dropped off at a friends so you can ride the rest of the way with them.

As I contemplated how to offer wisdom to my teenager about learning not to be so hyper-sensitive about what others thought something that took me two decades to get over, I realized the hypersensitivity did not seem to carry over onto what I thought about him. Okay, so maybe if you could take a little bit of the "I don't care what you think, mom" and apply that to your peers maybe you could reach a healthy balance.

Teenagers also have a strange sense of math. You can tell them how great they are for five days in a row with little response but if one day after school you ask them to pick up their mess they equate, "You never have anything good to say. All you do is yell at me when I mess up."

You would have thought I was never a teenager. But I was and that is why I probably act like I do now. Somehow I think every parent wants to protect their adolescents from going through what they did, if only they just did what we did right without doing what we did wrong--- then maybe they would be better adults than we are or at least better quicker. My daughter once yelled at me, "You just want me to be like you were as a teenager--- well I am not you, mom." The dilemna-- do I tell her? The last thing I wanted was for her to be like I was as a teenager but unfortunately I saw so much of me in her it was scarey. Well, I think she might turn out okay afterall!!

God's Glory

I just learned that the Hebrew word for "Glory" has a more fine-tuned translation than what we commonly consider splendor or greatness. The word is kavodh and means inclusively weight (or more modernly great treasure), abundance, and wealth.

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory (the great treasure, abundance, and wealth) of God the Father."

Interesting isn't it. Jesus brought Glory to God the Father. In otherwords, he was a great treasure to him. Jesus was God's wealth and abundance. That is why we want to be like Jesus to be a great treasure and of great wealth to God. "So whatever you do , do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31)." Do it all to be God's abundance and wealth. In all that you do be a great treasure to God.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21)." Following the logic here, if you are God's treasure--- will not God's own heart be with you also?

Meeting With God

It's a new year and I just learned that God wants to meet with me! From the very beginning of mankind, God walked with us and talked with us and even looked for us when we were hiding because of sin. He asked us to design special places to meet with us and cleansed us so that He could dwell among us.
"... Make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell among you. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. " Exodus 25:8-9

I wonder: what is the pattern that God is showing us for his sanctuary today. Where does God want to meet you? What does the pattern of place, time, and furnishings look like? Will you run to this place knowing God is going to meet with you there?

Think about how you react if you hear your phone ringing-- not even knowing who it is, do you leap over small furniture and stumble over toys trying to catch the caller before they hang up? If there is a knock at the door, do you find the energy to get up out of bed, put on your robe, to see who is there? God is waiting for you at your special meeting place will you not find the energy to get up and to leap over small furniture to meet with him before he leaves. Would you miss a minute of his visit with you?