Empowering the young!

I love when I have the privilege of meeting up with the young people in our community. It gives me such joy to hear where they are at, and where they are going. I love to hear their thoughts on the world they live in, and what makes their hearts ache and what makes their hearts soar.

Some recent conversations were so very enlightening to me. As I’ve reflected on them I was reminded of the verse in 1 Timothy 4:12

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

There is so much wisdom in this verse.  Our young people have much to teach us but I also believe there has never been such a time as now, where there has been as great a tension between the old and new generation.

The new generation is fighting to be the future and the previous generation is fighting not to be the past.

And as a result many of our young people feel thwarted.

Back in the day when I was a youth pastor, I understood that teenagers responded to love. We all know how to love, don’t we?  Most parents love their children. But teens need more than love, they need respect.

Love picks youth up by their weaknesses. …BUT respect releases them in their strengths.

Modern loves craves respect. And respecting them means we are willing to call out the good qualities we see in them and then release them in their strengths.  Our young people need to be empowered. They need to be given space to grow and thrive and lead.

So empower the young people around you. Don’t look down on them or belittle their abilities.  Let us not despise their youth (1 Tim 4:12)

When change comes from the top it is renewal. When change comes from the bottom it is revolution….we want a renewal. So older people must allow and encourage change.  Respecting the young also means listening to their views and letting ourselves be changed by them.  The young people around us can inspire us with Godly examples…so let’s not just invite them to the party, let’s give them a seat at the table…let’s give them a voice.

That is what we are doing at Amberlea.

I am so grateful to God for bringing us five amazing young people who have decided to spend the bulk of their summer influencing, guiding, and teaching - all through fun and wholesome activities - the littles of our community.  They are being empowered to lead!

But the truth is we are never too young or too old to be used by God.

No matter your age, God has empowered you to love Him and to love others and to live a life that points people to God.
How?  By being an example — in the way we talk, in the way we act, in the way we love, in the way we live out our faith, and in our purity.

We all can be an example!

overflowing

Philippians 1:9-10 says ,

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

In this verse the the apostle Paul was speaking to the church in Philippi. Paul had a special affection for the Philippians, and wanted to encourage them to continue to grow in spiritual maturity

When I reflect on this verse I see two things. The first is about the idea of,

• Our love abounding or overflowing

The concept of love is so important to God that He emphasizes what it means to love God first, then others.

So how can our love for God abound or overflow?

It happens by building a personal relationship with God as we grow closer to God the more we want to know God.  It’s like when you first fall in love. It is all consuming and if you are like me  they are the last thing you think about when you go to sleep and the first thing I think about when you awake. It is hard to picture a life without them.

Similarly the more we know God the more reasons we find to love God.  And that love drives us closer to God.

The second part of this verse is about,

• Discernment.

To discern means to recognize as separate and distinct.  In our world today we are bombarded by information coming from everywhere about everything and too much information can feel overwhelming.  This Scripture reminds us to be discerning. To know who our Father is so intimately that we can recognize the distinct voice of God.  The voice of truth.

I encourage you to allow the love of God to overflow in your life so you know who God is, and what really matters.

The most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on

In 1990 I became a mom for the very first time.  I did not know a love so great, so all encompassing.  I thought I did… with my family and even my husband, but when that adorable little girl was placed on my chest — Boom!  She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on and my heart exploded with a love like no other.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to have second child. I wasn’t sure that I could love another child the way I loved my first. But my dear husband said that if we could, we should. We should give our precious girl a sibling, a person that she could love and support and be supported by when we are no longer around.

In 1993 our second was born. I immediately loved this little boy but I was so anxious to see my girl, who was at home with her grandma. And if I am completely honest, I wondered if I could  love him as much as my first?

At some point a nurse came to take my sweet boy to do whatever tests they needed to do. As I lay in the hospital bed I could hear him crying from down the hall. I could hear the distinct cry of my baby (over the others babies) and in that moment something came over me, like a mama bear instinct. I got out of bed, stormed down the hall and picked up my crying boy. As I was soothing him, I told the nurse that when they were ready they could come to me, they were not to let my baby cry unattended ever again.

I took him back to my room where I feel madly in love with my other little miracle. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on and my heart exploded with a love like no other.

Children can do that.  They can make your heart expand and explode with love. When you think you don’t have room in your heart for another - God provides us the ability to love - to love fully and to love unconditionally!  Just as God loves each of us.

I didn’t think I would ever feel that way again, until today when I held my precious granddaughter for the first time.  She is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on and in an instant, my heart expanded and exploded exponentially with a love like no other!

My sweet boy is now a dad and I am now a Nana.

I am so grateful.

Mom, dad and baby are well. Nana is having a moment ;)

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another…. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.(1 John 4:9-11,16)