Once upon a time, I fell in love with my youth group. I fell for their quarkiness and nerdiness; their passion and angst; their laughter and tears; their willingness and hesitency. For three years, we experienced the ups and downs of our Christian journeys together...and for the six years following our formal separation, I've had the honor of continuing to be a part of their journeys.
I've witnessed graduations and drop outs; drug addictions and jail time; pregnancies and deaths; weddings and divorces; re-dedications and renunciations...you name it, they've been through it.
At first glance, it seems that I did a terrible job impacting my kids. Their lives have not turned out as stellar examples of Christianity and they've experienced things I wish they'd never chosen to go through.
Yet...who have they called when they are at their wits end? Who have they confided in and known would not condemn them or turn them away? Who have they known would love them unconditionally and walk them through to the other side? Me.
They know that I believe in them even when they don't believe in themselves.
They know that I'm a safe place...
Last night, as I was reading about missions, I read Luke 4:18-19, where Jesus identifies his mission:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
When we know that we've messed up, that we're in a bind, that we carry a burden unacceptable to the masses, we lock ourselves in to an emotional prison that oppresses us and keeps us from seeing the light of God. The light is there, though, and each time we speak the truth of our existence--however ugly it is--it slowly begins to seep into our emotional prison and set us free.
May I, like Christ, be the light that penetrates both my kids' and everyone-who-surrounds-me's darkness...
May I help release the oppressed and proclaim the Lord's favor...
And may I always be grateful for those youth who stole my heart...and then believed in me in return.
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