Apologies for the lateness of this blog post! We had to wait for this meeting so the girls had a chance to give us back the sign-up sheets their parents had filled out, which included permission to post the girls' pictures online. :) Since we had several new girls joining this week, tonight's meeting overview will be posted late as well.
Crazy girls!
The meeting topic was "Being Strong For the Lord in Your Youth". Jael was in charge of the lesson this week, which is written out below.
[I called the smallest girl forward, and had her face the rest.] This is the "nice Christian girl". She is standing here all by herself. Now I am the big mean world, and I don't like this nice Christian girl. [I told the girl to stay put where she was, and not to move] So I try to move her. [I pushed on the girl, and she stepped backward] What! Why did you move? Let's try this again. DON'T MOVE! [Again I pushed, and again she moved.] See? By herself, the good Christian girl is having trouble standing strong against the big mean world. But now... [I had one of the bigger girls come up and wrap her arm tightly around the smallest girl's shoulders]...another good Christian girl is coming alongside the first Christian girl, and it is much easier to stand strong. [I pushed on the smallest girl, and she didn't move] See? [I pushed from the other direction and still she didn't move] Because she had a friend to stand alongside her, she was able to stand strong against the big mean world. [I let the girls sit down again]
So, Bright Lights brings together Christian girls who want to grow stronger. It's like a staff meeting. You become refreshed by talking with others like you. You get your instructions for discharging your duty. And you leave, strengthened in your knowledge of God and in fellowship with other believers. And guess what? This lesson is about standing strong for the Lord while you're still young.
Now, standing strong is easy when you're around others who are standing strong. It's like a fire - each ember gets hotter and hotter the more it is around other hot embers. But what about when you're not around others who are standing strong?
Imagine for a moment that you are at a family reunion. You are hanging out with some of your cousins, just talking and having a great time. Then your Mom comes in and says, "I need you to stay in this room and keep an eye on your siblings while I go talk with Aunt Jenny in the other room." You agree to do so, and continue chatting with your cousins, while glancing in your siblings' direction from time to time. All is going well until one of your cousins says, "Hey! They're playing a game in the other room. You wanna go play?" Your other cousin says, "Sure!" And they both look at you expectantly.
What do you do? Your Mom told you to stay in this room and keep an eye on your siblings, but if you say, "No," your cousins might leave you, and you may be left by yourself with nothing to do.
This may not seem like a great example of "standing for the Lord in your youth." And I will agree that it is an imperfect example, but do consider that God commanded us to obey our parents, so by obeying our parents, we are obeying the Lord. So it IS standing for the Lord...in a 'roundabout way.
But sometimes the temptation to not stand is a little more clear. Just the other week, I was talking with a Christian adult friend of mine. He was mentioning how he had heard an interview with a famous actress, and she had said something along the lines of "I used to not feel confident in what I was doing. But then I looked within, and discovered the real beauty I held inside me, and now I feel much more confident, because I found fulfillment in myself." When I heard that, I was like, "Huh? No! Jesus is where we get our fulfillment! Looking within yourself will never work long-term." But I didn't really want to say anything, because I didn't want to offend my friend, or turn our conversation into an argument. But my conscience wouldn't let me keep quiet, so after a brief moment of struggle with myself, I said, "But that's not really true. Jesus is what makes us confident. He is the one that provides meaning to our lives. We need to live for Him!" And you know what? My friend just looked at me for a moment with the most quizzical expression on his face. I don't think he had ever thought of it that way before! All if took for me to say that was 5 seconds of courage. Courage that didn't care what others would think or say. Courage that comes when you HAVE to do what is right.
Now, I don't know about you, but most people nowadays don't expect young girls or teens to have convictions when it comes to matters of faith. They expect them to be giggly and foolish, swooning over the latest pop-star or something. So when they see a girl who is willing to stand for Jesus, they just don't understand.
But to stand strong for him, that means that you have to know Him. You can't stand strong in an argument about M&M's and over-cooked spinach unless you have a firm belief (that comes from experience) that M&M's are the most fantastic food on the face of the earth. In the same way, you have to KNOW Jesus in order to stand strong for Him.
[I called the oldest girl there, and had her stand in front of the others] This is a girl from the average Christian family. I'm her Mom. "Now, stand strong! Don't let anything move you from this piece of floor". Now pretend that I'm the big mean world. Since she doesn't really know Jesus, she just is trying to obey her Mom. [I push the girl and she moves] See? She is easily pushed about. Now... [I give her a Bible] she has Jesus in her heart. Her mom doesn't have to tell her to stand firm. She does so on her own, because this is where Jesus wants her to be. Now, I'm the big mean world again. I try to push her [I push against her], but this time, she has Jesus is her heart, and stands firm. [the girl doesn't move]
Now, you may ask, "Can't I get to know Him later, though? What difference does it really make whether I get to know him as a girl or as an adult?" Well, since there are two questions there, I will answer them separately.
First, "Can't I get to know Him later?" Let me ask you a question: God made you to eat, right? Are you planning on eating just when you grow up? Of course not! You eat now! You've eaten since you were a baby! So...God made you in His image, to serve Him and love Him. So should you do it only when you are an adult? I don't think so! So, just as we eat every day, even in our youth, we should love and serve Jesus, getting to know Him better, every day as well.
Second, "What difference does it really make whether I get to know him as a girl or as an adult?" Let me put it bluntly: A LOT! Children learn a lot more quickly than adults to. Imagine trying to teach your younger sibling something versus your Dad.
Also, what children learn stays with them much longer. I know from personal experience that Bible verses I memorized when I was very young are still with me, such as Proverbs 9:10 - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
In the same way, habits that you form as a child are much harder to break as an adult, and you want your love for Jesus to be something that is so intertwined with your personality that it's almost a habit. When I was younger, I would watch my Dad crack his knuckles, and I thought it was just too cool! I mean, he bent his fingers back and pop! They would make noise! So I started to try and do the same thing. After a while, my knuckles started to crack, and now I do it without thinking. I want to stop now (and my Dad does too!), because I know it's not the best thing for my fingers, but I'm having trouble, since it's a habit. The same is true of good habits...except that you don't want to stop the good ones.
Children can reach people's hearts much easier than adults can. I heard a story once about a lady who was ministering to this mean old miner for months without being able to really witness to him about Jesus. I mean, she brought him food and took care of him since he was so sick he couldn't really move, but all she received in turn were curses and threats. Finally, after months and months, she gave up on him. When she finished praying with her children that night, her young son said, "Mommy? Have you given up on that bad man?" She was like, "Yeah." Her son then asked, "Has God given up on him?" That really made her think, and she spent the entire night praying for the miner. The next morning, she prepared a meal, and set out for his house again. Along the way, she ran into her friend and her friend's little daughter. Her friend asked, "May we go with you?" Although the lady didn't think it was the best idea, she agreed, and so the three proceeded in company until they reached the miner's house. There the lady went inside, while her friend and her friend's daughter stayed outside. The miner was just as gruff as ever, cussing and yelling like normal, showing no appreciation whatsoever... until he heard the little girl laugh. Then his eyes got big, and he asked in a voice that the lady had never heard before, "What was that?" She said, "Why, it's a little girl. Would you like to see her?" She brought the little girl in, and the girl went up to the man and gave him some flowers she had picked. The miner got tears in his eyes, and told the woman, "I had a little girl once, and she died when she was this age."
Suddenly, the lady knew how to reach the old miner's heart. "Would you like to see your little girl again, someday?" she asked. "Oh yes!" he replied. So the woman started telling him all about Jesus, and how He died for his sins. The man was ready to hear, and he listened gladly to everything she said. Before the three left, the lady asked the little girl if she wanted to pray for the miner. The girl agreed, and said something like, "Dear Jesus, this man misses his little girl. He wants to see her again someday. Help him to love You so he can see his daughter again. Amen."
And so, through the influence of one little girl, a tough old miner was brought to Christ.
One more benefit of little kids - they totally aren't afraid of speaking their mind. I know a friend of mine was trained from very little that cigarettes are bad for you. Her parents called them "yucky sticks". So one time when they went into a restaurant where there were people smoking, my friend (who was, like, 2) stood up, and, solemnly pointing at everyone who was smoking, said, "Yucky! Yucky! Yucky!" Of course, her parents were dying of embarrassment, but she wasn't afraid to speak the truth.
Something similar happened when I was really little. My parents had also been training me that cigarettes are bad (must be a common campaign that many parents wage!), and so, one time where we were at the local car garage, I saw a man who was smoking. Since I knew that smoking wasn't good for you, I boldly walked up to him and said, "Don't do that! That's bad for your body!" He looked really sheepish, and said something about wishing that he could stop. But the point of those two stories is that small children aren't afraid to say what they have been taught. So if you are taught to love Jesus when you are little, you will make a bold witness for Him!
"But," you may be thinking, "I'm older now! I really don't want people to think I'm weird!" Understandable. But then again, Jesus never promised that it would be an easy road. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 1 [verses 18, 20, 22-23, 25], "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles... For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength." After all, who in their humanly right mind would say, "If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also."? And he warned us ahead of time in John 15: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also." So, you see, if you fit in, that would mean that you wouldn't be doing what you were supposed to be doing. If you want to stand for the Lord in your youth, "weirdness" comes with the territory!
So let's say you're willing to be weird and stand strong for the Lord. What now?
Well, remember the "normal" girls that I mentioned earlier who are all swooning over the latest pop star or whatever? What do you guys think of them? They're weird right? But think. Why are they doing it? Is it necessarily because they like whatever or whoever a ton on their own? No! It's usually because ALL THEIR FRIENDS ARE DOING IT TOO! They are doing it because of peer pressure.
Do you realize that you have peer influence? You do! Even in the little things. One of my friends talks with her hands a lot. She uses her hands to help communicate whatever she is saying. As you may have noticed, I use my hands when I talk, too. [At this point, all the girls nodded their heads vigorously. :-)] On my own, I didn't choose to talk with my hands, but because I spent a lot of time with this friend, I started picking up her mannerisms! She wasn't trying to influence me. She just WAS. And that's how it goes much of the time. I remember a time when I was up at my great-aunt's house for a family reunion. Most of us older second-cousins were hanging out in my one second-cousins room. We weren't doing anything bad. We were mainly talking and learning cool stuff (like the moonwalk, just for fun), but I know that my parents don't really like it when I'm in friends' bedrooms. But since most of my other second-cousins were in there, and I didn't really have anything else to do, I stayed with them. But one of my second-cousins named Jacob did something that I've never forgotten. I guess his family has a similar guideline (not going into bedrooms at friends' houses), because he came in for a few minutes, and looked on (and like I mentioned, we weren't doing anything bad); but after a few moments, he turned around and went back out. I guess he talked with the adults in the main room. If I had had the guts, I would've gotten up and gone out too, because my conscience was telling me that Mom and Dad wouldn't like it that I was in that bedroom. But I was having fun, and I didn't want to leave all the kids my age. So I didn't. But if that ever happened again, I would. Mainly because I saw Jacob doing it.
Now Jacob didn't realize that I saw him. He wasn't trying to influence me. But he did. So realize that there are always people watching you. Your friends will watch what you do, and may pattern their behavior after you.
But your influence doesn't stop there. Imagine that you have 5 friends, and you influence those five friends to talk with their hands. Then each of those 5 friends have 5 friends of their own that they influence to talk with their hands. You have now influenced 30 people to talk with their hands! And if your original 5 friends have kids, they will influence their kids to talk with their hands! And so your influence spreads, not only in your peer circles, but in the generations to follow!
Now, talking with your hands is a pretty silly example. But change "talking with your hands" to any other positive action, and you should get the picture.
But there is one more area where you will have influence as a girl. Adults often think of the teen (and pre-teen) years as ones of foolishness and rebellion, and you have to admit that, for most girls nowadays, they are. Adults don't usually respect girls' opinions, because they think of the girl offering them as silly and immature. But a girl who has convictions about her faith, who is mature and responsible - not giddy and foolish - will stand out. Adults will respect her opinion. They will enjoy talking with her. And they will be amazed. They will see the way the young lady carries herself, and the restraint that she shows in her everyday life, and they will be influenced. They will want their daughters or granddaughters to act like that. So a girl who stands strong for the Lord will influence, not only her friends and their friends, but the adults in her life too. St. Paul knew this, and he told Timothy: "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." (By the way, that verse, 1 Timothy 4:12, is your memory verse for the week. You can use whichever translation you like, but it needs to be memorized by next meeting!) We also need to live like that!
So, our youth is a powerful time! We have so many advantages when we are young! And if we love Jesus with everything, we won't be afraid of being weird. We will stand strong, and our influence will affect others, both young and old. Let us follow Jesus in our youth!!
