When I think of the teens I have worked with and even about my own kids stepping into this stage of life I wonder if they will ever get it.  What’s it? you ask…well more specifically, I want them to understand the ways of the Lord, to live their lives accordingly  and to act more age appropriate; am I the only one who is thinking this way? (I think not).

Here is something that I was reminded of today.  Teenagers have a few ongoing processes that include their intellectual, physical and most importantly spiritual.  These all center around a gap/void/hole in their being or heart.  This shouldn’t be un-familiar to us as we have or have had this same experience.  This hole is about the shape and size of God…but can be filled with just about anything we want/desire.  The only catch is that what really belongs is God.  My adolescence was filled with a huge shopping experience…one which had me shopping around for something that would fit this hole.  Thankfully (by God’s grace) I found what fits that hole perfectly and those of you are believers have too.

I often wonder what type of dad I will continue to be; a dad who expects perfection and delivers punishment when anything less is given, or a dad who knows a little about grace and acts accordingly.  Grace, yeah that five letter word that our heavenly Father has showed me time and time again.  Just imaging if God were the first type of dad I spoke of.  I suspect I would have been reduced to a smoldering pile of ash by now.  The good news is that He is not.  He is a gracious God who is passionately in love with us…his children.  Paul speaks of this type of grace in 1 Timothy 1:14-15.

I pray that I remember the grace that has been shown to me as I have removed the stuff that I have stuffed into my God shaped hole…and show that same type of grace to my children.  In closing Author Matt Mueller refers to a bumper sticker being on our teens…one that reads “be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet”.  What would happen if we made that a forehead sticker and that was the first thing we saw instead of seeing someone else’s mistakes? I pray that we always see our children through the eyes of grace.