Footprints: The Feet That Follow...
Have You Read The Other Parts of: Footprints?If Not, Click Here
Think a moment about your childhood, For some...? This simple thought can bring tears of joy... But for many...? This thought isn't as simple for you as it is for others...
...Pain ...Confusion ...Loneliness
These are some of the words that the youth, of this century, know so well
In a world where EVERYTHING YOU WANT is only a click, drive, and dream away... How can the youth be hurting so much...?
> iPads cannot give a child the warmth, love, and guidance that their Mom and Dad were MADE to provide <
^
Point is...? We ALL are built with a need for love! Our feet NATURALLY searches for love, Our heart NATURALLY searches for love, Our mind NATURALLY searches for love...
WE ALL HAVE A GOD SHAPED HOLE INSIDE THAT ONLY GOD CAN FILL... So if you aren't leading those around you to Him, Who's feet are they following...?
Look behind you for once...
...You will be amazed the little feet that follow you
"Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up..."
-Deuteronomy 6:5-7
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ADOLESCENCE
Makes us cringe right? So many think it as the phase of life that their once innocent boy or girl, begins to drive them NUTS!
But lets look closer at this phase of life...
The term adolescence refers to the transitional period between puberty and adulthood when the individual going through it is also going through a period of growth and maturation... This time is crucial to the developing of the child
The truth is, As kids go through the period of adolescence, they long for ANYONE or ANYTHING to help them understand what is going on. But more importantly...? They want a parent to "parent" them!
It doesn't help the situation that the adult-centered messages being pushed by the mainstream media is overwhelmingly contradictory to what the youth was raised into believing. The youth begins to be severely confused on WHAT to believe...
When this happens...?
Adolescents ultimately begin to turn to their parents and elders around them to be led in the right way.
But what if a parent fails to "PARENT" a child...?
Well honestly, it's easier to fail to "parent" than you might think! Due to the many pressures that are put on adults:
-To provide for their family -To protect their kids -To make sure their kids succeed -To make sure that their kids have the opportunities that they didn’t have,
Parents so often unknowingly overlook the kids' TRUE need...
The need to be led...
...But I must be honest...
We ALL are "parents" And it's NOT only parents and adults that unknowingly overlook their TRUE needs...
But I, so often, unknowingly overlook their true needs
...We ALL do...
Lord, forgive us.
Many of us unknowingly ignore the section in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 that commands the parent to “talk” to the youth about the commandments of the Lord, and instead...? We focus more on the “impress” section of the same scripture.
When WE overlook the hands of the confused kid that is being held out to talk and make sense through the confusing times, the adolescence succumbs to the contradictory message that is being thrown at them by the media and the people around them.
After succumbing to the once confusing contradictory messages...? The "adult-driven" culture around them becomes the new "norm" the new “parent” that will lead and parent the adolescent and their decisions.
The adolescent becomes in a limbo between being a kid and the pressures of adulthood....
This is the point that so many of us dislike, but we never stop to question HOW they got there and HOW we missed it.
When we are not there for them, it doesn’t take long to learn that the amount of time spent with someone (or something) shows the worth and value that the specific thing is to the individual...
...Adolescents are smart enough to know that they are not an exception...
So often WE push kids closer to the adult-driven pressures (and so often farther away from God) by focusing on OUR OWN problems and pressures. One way this happens...? By not seeking to understand the feelings of our kids and by not looking INSIDE ourselves to see where our time,love, and motives is TRULY going.
When we do not take time to find out what’s going on inside them, we tear down their value and their worth!
In the book, When Kids Hurt, Chap Clark and Steve Rabey says it like this,
"... Young children learn they are only as valuable as their ability to contribute”.
This holds so much truth...
...For I have felt the same feeling when I was younger.
So we MUST ask ourselves...
Are we underestimating the war that is going on inside the youth by not caring enough to STOP, LISTEN, and LEAD?
We SO OFTEN push kids to “get involved”, “be the best”, and to “push through” the confusing times. The problem is though, many of us do this WITHOUT helping the adolescent know HOW to get involved, HOW to be the best, and HOW to push through the hard times in a healthy (and biblical) way.
When we ignore the fact that we are supposed to (with love) lead them, we abandon the youth in the mist of their struggles. By not being there to help them make sense of their growth, the adolescent youth are walking away from the SAME PEOPLE that are supposed to be the leaders...
...Us
WE NEED TO SEE OUR ROLE OF PARENTING AS A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT!
If we begin to think of our relationship with kids, adolescent youth, and our peers as something precious that takes time, endurance, and energy (like a marathon) INSTEAD of a fast paced run , where the relationship takes a lot of energy, but little time (like a sprint) there will be less youth confused by the conflicting messages around them...
--->It's time for US to take credit for problems and STOP blaming others<---
Want to lead kids and peers to Christ? THEN WE MUST BEGIN TO GIVE THEM OUR TIME!
If we look at those around us at different angle? Then we will find that they actually have their hand out BEGGING for someone to spend time with them!
The best way to lead people to Jesus...? is to CARE, LOVE, & CRY for them through their pain! ...Almost as if the pain was our own
In a world that preaches to go, go, and go, I can see how even I, at times, have missed the true need of those around me... Especially the youth
The true desire of us ALL , is the desire for a TRUE friend that is FIRST willing to relate to their problems, THEN willing to lead them through it, BUT most importantly...? WE ALL DESIRE LOVE, EVEN IF WE REFUSE TO LISTEN! The same goes with our kids...
Parents and adults MUST step up and fill the role of the leader who listens, More personally though...? To fill that role, We must FISRT allow the LORD to parent us! And when we do this...? ...The kids will follow
So Lord in this moment I pray... GIVE US YOUR EYES to see beneath the smiles, problems, and scars TO FIND the hand that is being held out DESPERATE for help through the confusion within!
HELP US be the leaders who will TAKE this generation away from the arms of the enemy, HELP US be the leaders and parents that will be the examples of YOUR kingdom and YOUR love, HELP US be reminded that before we "witness" to others, we must first witness You, HELP US be humble enough to accept the role that YOU have given us...
Help us follow your footprints alone...
Help OUR feet
be the feet that follows you...
Lord, DADDY! PARENT ME, PARENT US! ... so that we can parent the feet that follow
Lyrics: Here
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfIBrzRZeM]
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“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” -John 1:1o-13
"Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." -Proverbs 22:6