A couple of days ago, while sitting in S'Bucks for a planning meeting, I watched what was obviously a female "mentor" of four teenage girls. During the entire time I was in my meeting, they were in their meeting and occasionally they would capture my attention with giggles and laughter. Having given a large chunk of my life to the development of teenagers, the "mentor-Mom" had my honor as she was giving up her time and energy to lead these young women closer to Jesus (I saw the "mentor-Mom" had her Bible, a discussion guide book and the all-to-familiar look of a teen worker/volunteer).
Impressed by the girl's attentiveness to their leader's leading, I noticed they were about to pray close to the time my meeting was wrapping up. As they began to bow their heads for the prayer, one of the girls spotted a teenage boy approaching the door. While all the girls initially bowed their heads, slowly... one-by-one... each girl eventually left the attention of their leader's prayer and watched the boy walking into S'Bucks. They all recovered the "prayer posture" just about the time the leader said her "Amen." All's well that ends well, I guess! Or maybe not...
That image has stayed with me over the past couple days and I've been wondering "what did those teen girls expect from that moment of prayer?" I know the powerful draw of a "cute guy" for a 16 year-old-girl (I currently have one of those girls living in my own house), but is it powerful enough to take a young woman away from a conversation with the Creator of the universe? Perhaps. But maybe the girls are not altogether to blame. The issue may rest with the rest of us who have led them. Have we taught them to expect and anticipate being in the presence of God?
What do we really "expect" when we pray, when we worship or when we read Scripture? Do we really expect to be in the presence of the Almighty God? Do we really expect an encounter that may change our lives? If we do expect it, do we "anticipate" something will, in fact, happen as a result of being with God? My hunch is we are not as assured or as cognizant of it as we could be.
I know in the life of a 16-year-old girl, the attention of a teen boy can be the highlight of the day. But when I think of eternal life and the power of knowing God, I have to think we who are older need to take the responsibility for this one. For a teen girl to "diss" a boy for a moment of prayer, she's going to have to believe in the power of what she's doing and maybe we've simply not modeled expectation enough for them.
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment