Summer 2010
September 4, 2008 by admin
Filed under Latest From Jen, Newsletter
Summer 2010 – Letter From Director Jen Black
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Freedom is something that we all long for, whether it be in our job, the country we choose to live in, our faith, or what we have for lunch. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6 that all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. I love this; it gives me all the freedom I want… Do you remember being 13 and beginning to put your foot down and demanding freedom? Do you remember being 15 1/2 and pushing your parents to go ahead and let you date?
A good friend of mine currently has teenage daughters. The other day she said to me, “I’m done, I need for them to go away for a few years and then they can come back and I’ll be their mom again.” I laughed and reminded her that everybody was doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. The girls are at a place where they are becoming their own persons, beginning the stages of adulthood; and that she and her husband were the guardians of that process. They are pulling the reins when needed and still creating safe boundaries for the girls, helping them make wise choices. It’s not fun, it’s not supposed to be, it can’t be. These are such critical years, busting out from under mom and dad
yet not having a fully developed brain to make wise decisions. Yikes! My friend was joking of course; she doesn’t like being away from the girls more than a few days at a time and would be devastated if they weren’t under her care for any length of time. However, I understand her frustration. God gives us freedom of choice. Sometimes I wonder if my brain might not be fully developed in order to make wise decisions. Another friend and I have participated in Lent for the last few years. This year someone challenged me to give up meat. Due to my misunderstanding of how Lent is practiced, I agreed.
I gave up meat and sweets. Wow, was that difficult. The thing I missed the most was chewing meat. Weird!
Anyway, needless to say, Easter weekend was full of eating and enjoying the things we had given up. After having bacon for breakfast, a cheeseburger for lunch and a few Peeps throughout the day, I was miserable to the point I couldn’t enjoy dinner. I had taken advantage of my “new” freedom. The interesting thing was for weeks after Lent, I found myself forgetting that I could eat meat. I would search the menu to figure out what I could have that didn’t contain meat. I quickly forgot that I was free. One of our mom’s shared the other night in parenting class that she forgets that she has the freedom to eat a bowl of cereal at night. Her previous husband had been so controlling and abusive that she would get punished for eating cereal in the evening. Can you imagine? We are all bound by something, whether it is self inflicted or inflicted by someone else, whether it is for our own good or if it is a thorn in our side. Sometimes God has to pull the reins on us when we are acting as if our brains aren’t fully developed.
When families walk through our door, their boundaries have become blurred. We get the privilege and have the responsibility to remind or teach parents their role as guardians and to teach teens how to navigate these difficult years. We get to help them straighten out the boundaries and introduce them to a freedom that they have forgotten about or have not yet tasted.
