The Playing Field Has Changed

I have no idea what brought this to my mind this morning.  I started to think about the playground at elementary school, and recess, and the games we would play as kids.  Kick ball, tag, all of those.  All of those “team games”   Where two “cool kids” would use a process of elimination to choose their teams, working from best to worse…and I was usually one of the last kids picked.  I have no idea what brought that memory to mind.  I thought I had sufficiently buried it and its associated pain.

No, upon thinking about it, I DO know why I remembered it.  Jesus was using it, something from pre-junior high that made a huge impression, to teach me, even then.  He uses the lessons even NOW.  He is teaching me compassion.  He teaches me love, even when someone didn’t seem very loveable.  (I confess, I’m still trying to grasp that sometimes!  I can be a slow learn!)

I have to make myself remember the hurt of being the last one chosen.  Especially when I really couldn’t tell anyone about it.  I couldn’t tell anyone that I felt so inadequate.

Now, I’m thinking about kids today.  The playing field has changed.  We’re no longer talking about kickball.  I think of the issues that plague kids of all ages today…loneliness, morality, jealousy, teasing or bullying (I’ve been told that cyber-bullying is a major issue for kids, sometimes resulting in suicide), worry about everything from school grades to family life, anger, violence, drugs and alcohol, cutting, sex....

I don’t have children so I’m removed from the face-to-face aspect., but I would imagine that parents get blind-sided all the time.  I know I can only answer for me.  And I am only able to help in limited ways.  For instance, I mentor online.  That often seems so insignificant when faced with a wall of  troubled young people, but that mentoring and general awareness are a vast improvement from just leaving the room and ignoring the problem.

May I suggest using your favorite search engine and type in “organizations that help children/teens” and you can target a search for what you can best give – money, time, clothing, food, etc.  I don’t have a concrete answer, so maybe this is a good place to start reaching out to kids.