Hi Parents,
You've heard the saying "Be yourself because everyone else is already taken." We don't want to be like everyone else - not really - we just like some of our friends' best qualities. We try taking the qualities we like best in others and make them our own, but that can be exhausting. Not all of us can tell a great joke or talk to everyone we meet. We can feel insecure about our appearance, feeling too small or too big in one way or another. Sometimes we begin to wonder what was left for us.
Our journey of finding our identity in Christ is the process of believing that I am identified not by the way I look on the outside, but by the power and grace of God within me. This is my life, my journey, my story. I shouldn't be afraid to stand out, to be different, to be myself. God knew us before the world was framed (Ephesians 1:4) and knit us together before we were born (Psalm 139:13), creating us in God's image (Genesis 1:27). God says that we are enough because our worth is found in Christ. To find ourselves, we must love ourselves in Christ.
Ask your teen...
Where have you been trying to find yourself?
Challenge your teen...
Take some time to rethink who you are and where you find your identity, to reclaim vulnerability and to give up power, to recreate and to restore relationships.
Open yourself to the beauty of God's handiwork in the lives of those you encounter.
Allow yourself to admit that you are broken, and yet choose to reflect the love and grace of God of the least, the second best, and the outcast.
Prayer...
Loving God, thank you for creating me in your image so that I might reflect your love to all people. Help me to recognize your gifts within me and to enable others to see Christ in themselves. Amen.
You've heard the saying "Be yourself because everyone else is already taken." We don't want to be like everyone else - not really - we just like some of our friends' best qualities. We try taking the qualities we like best in others and make them our own, but that can be exhausting. Not all of us can tell a great joke or talk to everyone we meet. We can feel insecure about our appearance, feeling too small or too big in one way or another. Sometimes we begin to wonder what was left for us.
Our journey of finding our identity in Christ is the process of believing that I am identified not by the way I look on the outside, but by the power and grace of God within me. This is my life, my journey, my story. I shouldn't be afraid to stand out, to be different, to be myself. God knew us before the world was framed (Ephesians 1:4) and knit us together before we were born (Psalm 139:13), creating us in God's image (Genesis 1:27). God says that we are enough because our worth is found in Christ. To find ourselves, we must love ourselves in Christ.
Ask your teen...
Where have you been trying to find yourself?
Challenge your teen...
Take some time to rethink who you are and where you find your identity, to reclaim vulnerability and to give up power, to recreate and to restore relationships.
Open yourself to the beauty of God's handiwork in the lives of those you encounter.
Allow yourself to admit that you are broken, and yet choose to reflect the love and grace of God of the least, the second best, and the outcast.
Prayer...
Loving God, thank you for creating me in your image so that I might reflect your love to all people. Help me to recognize your gifts within me and to enable others to see Christ in themselves. Amen.
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