Grace, What it Means to be a Teen

Teens, hmm, that word often leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Not only are we stereotyped as messy, irresponsible no goods who are only worried about boyfriends-girlfriends, cell phones, text messages and iPod's. But the terrible thing is that a lot of those things are true!

It is an awkward age. For boys, their voices are changing, they are often growing like weeds, and sometimes are just a little awkward.

For girls, we begin to not only look more like adult women, but we begin to feel the pressure of having to look "magazine cute" in order to get our value. A whole crushing wave filled with hair, make-up, clothing, smiling, laughing, be witty and entertaining at all times comes rushing in almost without warning.

Well, some people have kind of this philosophy that teens aren't really worth much, we eat to much, we smell bad, our voices are squeaky, us girls are way too dramatic, and we are really concerned about lots of little in-important things that feel stressful and imperative to us.

A lot of people think that the teen years just have to be suffered through, they are dreaded, and people can't wait for them to be over so that we can mature overnight when we hit 20 and then go off to college and become successful and wise.

Some teens have this idea that this is party time. This is when we get to act up, be childish, play and laugh, flirt and be coy, eat, drink, and be merry to put it simply. Do you now wonder why we are stereotyped?

I have a different philosophy, one that some very wise people share. Such as my father and mother, and the Harris boys. If you have not heard of them, or read their book, "Do Hard Things" then I recommend that you read it as fast as you can buy or borrow it, and that you visit their website. http://therebelution.com/

These boys have a different idea, that the teen years are a growing time, a learning time, a time to build character. These are the years when you are forming a lot of who you will be later, and if you form badly, it is going to take a TON of work to track back and regroup.

Now is not the time to play games, now is the time to learn, to grow, to ask questions and listen to older wiser people. Now is the time to keep your eyes and ears open, to read your Bible, to learn to love other people and love your family. Now is the time!

Yes, I know. Something kinda hits you about 12-13 is identity searching. I know, I have gone through a bit, nothing as horrible as some people do. I have loving parents who are deeply involved in my life and help me out a ton! I have a loving God Who's Word I read every day to help me out.

Since this is such an issue for teens, here are some identity-searching tips.

First of all, who am I in Christ? Well, Grace(myself) is a beautiful, loved, child of God with a heart to love. I may not always live that out, but in my Spirit that is who I am.

Second, I am smart. I have a brain designed by the greatest Designer of all times! I can conquer my daily school challenges, and I WILL conquer them, because I have to.

Third, I am beautiful. I may not be the prettiest girl in the world, and I don't know that I want to be. I know that my future husband will think me the most beautiful and that is good enough for me. But I am also beautiful on the inside, I may not be 100% internally gorgeous all of the times, but I am mortal and that is all that can be expected.

Fourth. Well, I may not be the funniest, I may not be the wittiest, I may not be the most athletic, I may not be the best singer, I may dance like a cat with the croup, and I may sing in the shower. But I am exactly WHO GOD MADE ME TO BE! And I was made to fit His predestined purpose for my life, so I shouldn't try to be different.

Fifth. I am here to serve for God's glory. I don't know what that looks like, how He has it arranged, and whether I will like it or not. But that is what I am about, I am His servant, and He is my loving master. So accept it.

Accepting who you are and what you are and speaking the truth out loud or in your head and heart really helps. We are made in God's image, and are valuable and precious to Him just the way we are.

Now that we have addressed the identity issue, let us continue.

Part of being a teen is growing into an adult, and hopefully a mature one.

Something that can be good to work on is relationships. Some of the most grown-up people I have seen are those that are loving and encouraging in their relationships. They are people that I want to be around, they are people that are going to get irritated over the slightest thing, they are people who are willing to walk the extra mile for someone, those are people who have worked on their relationship skills.

Something else adults do, is be realistic. They say, "How much money do I have to spend on this?", "Is this really going to benefit my future?", "Am I wasting my time when I could be doing something better?", "Is this really more important than that, do I really need to spend any time on that?", "What will benefit others beside myself?", "What can I reasonably get done in this amount of time without going into cardiac arrest(aka heart attack)?", "Is this relationship going to be good for me?"

Yeah, YIKES! They think things through, weight them, consider them, make important decisions, and then they have to experience the consequences, for better or for worse.

Help! I am only 14! Yeah, well I am only 14. And I am not telling you that you have to go on such a large scale like what life insurance to get, or what person to marry, or what career to follow. But a lot of those same questions we can apply to our less weighty problems and situations. If we learn to do it on a smaller scale, then we are more likely to succeed on a larger scale.

If all of what I have just spent a bunch of time writing is Arabic to you, this sums up what I am saying to you. Being a teen doesn't mean party time, or that you have to live like the stereotype. Being a teen means that you now turn your life from a more childish perspective, to a more grown-up one. That you start training now for your life ahead. You will not regret it.

Our world is full of immature grown-ups making childish decisions that are hurting other people's lives. I wonder if they had made different decisions as teenagers especially if they would have different results.

I bet so, and I hope and pray that we all can grow up as wise children of God who can help others in need and raise our children for His kingdom!