Keeping it real

Children can really throw us for a loop. And then they turn into teenagers!

Mark Yaconelli writes about the anxiety that youth stir in many adults. Often, we pick up on their discomfort and things spiral downhill from there.

Many of us curl our own public personae around those of other people. But the further I am pulled from my true center, the more exhausted I grow.

Children and youth need us to show them how to be real.

An active little boy with whom I have worked bounced up to me after church. I was stunned when he slipped his small hand into mine. Clearly he felt a connection, though I wasn’t sure I was reaching him.

And then there was Vacation Bible School. Some of our third-graders shared some very personal concerns. I don’t think they would have opened up like that if they hadn’t felt safe and valued.

These moments remind me why I feel called to work with children. I want to help create a space where kids can be spontaneous and real-- and appreciated for who they are, right now.

We could all use more of that.