Praying into Summer with Teens
If
your teenagers' schedules are anything like mine, their days have been
jam-packed since last September with school, homework, after-school activities,
PSAT and SAT preparation, athletic games, recitals ... the list goes on. It has not been uncommon for them to study
until midnight, and then sometimes wake up early in the morning to finish
before school began again. No sleeping in on Saturday with scholastic scrimmage
tournaments, cross country meets, and cello lessons. And Sunday up early for
church. Now, don't get me wrong. They
love what they do and they do chisel out time to listen to music, read books
of their choosing, and socialize with friends.
Summer
comes is a welcomed break from the harried pace of the school year. Even during
the summer, however, teenagers today face pressure to continue their
achievements at summer college institutes or at study abroad programs. Again,
these are not poor choices. But consider helping your teenager to think about
summer as a time of re-balancing themselves and having enough free time to
explore interests and activities that bring them joy. Summer is an opportunity to lay aside
the drive to please their teachers and earn that A and redirect energy toward
unearthing their deepest gladness--seeds that God has sown within.
A sure way to become tuned into our
deepest gladness is through prayer, by slowing down and intentionally quieting
our minds and bodies to listen to God. Now, this doesn't mean spending the
summer kneeling or in silence! The Catechism defines prayer as, "responding
to God, by thought and by deeds, with our without words" (Book of Common
Prayer, 856). That definition suggests many options that include resting,
playing, creating, and observing Sabbath time. Here are some possibilities:
·
Find an outdoor labyrinth and walk the
labyrinth once each week together. You can locate one near you at labyrinthlocator.com.
·
Fashion colorful prayer beads for
yourselves or for the elderly at your church. If you make them for others, pray
for the person while beading. [Bead One,
Pray Too by Kimberly Winston is a helpful resource.]
·
Create homemade greeting cards for the
sick in your church together and talk about God's call to feed the hungry,
clothe the naked and comfort the afflicted. [Mailbox Ministry by Sue Banker provides ideas.]
·
Doodle prayers on paper either by
designing your own patterns or by coloring already-made mandalas. [Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth
explores how to doodle with prayer and Coloring
Mandalas by Susanne Fincher includes blank mandala designs.]
·
Create a scrapbook of photographs showing
of signs of God's presence in your community. [Pages of Faith by Sharon Sheridon shows how to create scrapbooks of
faith.]
·
Walk together quietly once a week in your
favorite quiet place--nearby walking paths in a park or along the beach early
in the cool hours of the day.
Prayerful activities can also include the following, which
Pepperdine pscychologist David Elkins identifies as often missing in the lives
of our hurried children:
·
Unstructured time for the freedom to explore.
·
Talking and playing games with immediate family
members.
·
Visiting and playing with extended family.
·
Time for self-discovery through reading,
writing, dreaming and creating.
["The Overbooked
Child," Psychology Today,
Jan/Feb 2003]
Praying into summer with our teens will give them a great
gift: time to notice, as author Marjorie Thompson calls it, the spark that God
has sown deep within us, a spark that once uncovered from the busyness of our
lives and given oxygen is ignited by God's desire for us (Soul Feast, 33). By
praying into summer with our teens, they may come to know that they are made in
God's image, both fearfully and wonderfully made.
