Hi Parents!
Save me, God!  I am about to drown.  I am sinking deep in the mud and my feet are slipping."

Dear Parents:
We each have a biological family, but our church is also our family.  We can choose our friends, as the saying goes, but not our family.  That's true of our church family too.  We can't choose the people who belong to our church family.  Our church includes people of different ages, with different habits and personalities.  Some members seem to have a long way to go to be like Christ and others may have it more together.  Then I think about the people who followed Jesus: militants, prostitutes, fishermen, lepers, soldiers and a few genuine, though sometimes dense disciples.  Would I have chosen Judas the betrayer? persecutor Paul? self-seeking John and James? blundering Peter?  How could Jesus love all of those people? Or me?

Hang on!  Maybe that's God's idea of love - a family to which we all belong, a home where we all fit.  Even me.  In Romans 12:4-5 we learn that the body of Christ is made up of different parts all working together.  God gave each of us unique talents. God calls on us to focus on combining our talents so that together we build up the whole body of Christ.  Ephesians 4:16b (CEV) says "Christ holds [the body] together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love."

Ask your child...
​When have you gathered with friends or family to enjoy one another's company to talk about what God is doing in your lives?
What about this time together are you especially grateful for?
How might you encourage the group to make this a regular gathering?
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Challenge your child...
God calls us to love one another.  Identify one person at school or church whom you might not choose as family.  Make time this week to strike up a conversation.  Ask get-to-know-you-questions, and listen closely to the responses.  Try to discover something you have in common, and offer the gift of friendship.

Prayer...
God, help me build a community of friends who accept me, encourage me in my faith and challenge me to grow.  Amen.

"If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Matthew 6:14 (NIV)

Hi Parents!
Sometimes we feel as if the world is against us.  A friend betrays us, we don't get the recognition we were expecting, or we are accused of something we didn't do.  Yet even in those times, God sees us - the tears we shed in hiding, the prayers we shout into the air, the cries of confusion when we wonder, "What happened Lord?"  Sometimes our pain feels like barbed wire biting into our skin or we feel like a cow chewing on its cud - chew, swallow, bring up the conversation again, repeat.  As the day wears on, that cud begins to taste bitter.  Paul David Tripp says "Harboring bitterness against people is actually confessing their sin to ourselves, over and over again."

Rather than holding on to bitterness, anger, and disappointment, rather than shouting to the wind with a clenched fist because we have been wronged, we can release our pain to the One who knows our hurt and can teach us to forgive.  We can choose our "food for thought."  We can choose what we chew on.  Careless words hurt us, and people offend us, but we don't have to chew on those words over and over.  God alone can heal our wounds.

Ask your teen...
How can you change the conversation in your own mind so that you can let go of bitterness and see the truth?

Challenge your teen...
When bitterness and ager start building up inside, step back, take a deep breath, and say a prayer.  You might discover that you were indeed wronged.  But by taking time to get some perspective, you might find a way to respond with grace instead of lashing out in the heat of the moment.  Angry words are easy to speak, but you can never get them back.
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Prayer...
Lord, help us to trust you with our pain and to release the bitterness we carry.  We want to forgive those who have hurt us.  Teach us how, Lord,  Amen.