From the desks of Tammy Hayes & Michelle Rozell, Middle & Upper School Principals:

BLAHG! BLAHG! BLAHG!

That is what your teenagers might hear when you try to give advice, redirect them, or keep them from going down a very wrong path.  Because of the station of life they are in, tennagers often become deceived as to what is actually TRUTH! Teenagers are definitely known and excused from this most of the time for the mere reality that they are teens. Their hormones are in flux, their contentment is fleeting, and their lack of foresight normal for where they are developmentally! However, we as parents and teachers still try every day to “say the right thing” to motivate them to consider their season of life, not believe the lies they feel in their emotional state, and choose a Godly perspective! We tell them to choose to look up at God, and down the road, to stay the course, and to above all else, believe the TRUTH about who they are based on what we know as adults.  What’s our advantage? That’s easy, we have hindsight! We KNOW truth because we have already been where they are and we KNOW and REMEMBER the lies of our youth that held us captive and unable to be all we could have been.

So, I asked you to give me some of those truths…just one more time anyway, because even though our students/your teenagers might not be able to see it now, one day, they will see that you weren’t just “trying to get them to do what you wanted them to do for no reason.” Instead, you (and we) loved them so much that we wanted them to “CHOOSE TRUTH” to free them from their captivity of self-doubt, insecurities about performance, beauty, or intelligence, lack of self-esteem, inability to overlook imperfections, and in general every deceit the enemy has thrown at them.

Thank you for your responses! You helped us write our blog this week! Both parents and teachers responded to our prompt, “What You Wish Your Teenager Understood About Life ASAP!” and here are some WORDS OF TRUTH You Wish Your Teenager Understood about Life ASAP!  This might be good fodder for the dinner table this weekend!

Don’t get wrapped up in the drama.  It’s a trap!  – Yvonne Wright

Body Spray does NOT equal deodorant!  – Brian Nelson

Your choices do not define you, but they do set you up for success or failure. Make them wisely. – Jodie Martin

This too shall pass.  Whatever is going on, good or bad, it will pass. – Shiloh Willis

There is nothing worth doing that is easy!  – Shannan McEuen 

If you find yourself in a hole….stop digging. – Scott Berkley

Most adults don’t regret the time that they spent with their friends in school. What many adults DO regret is spending too much time with a boyfriend/girlfriend. Enjoy these days- have fun with friends and youth groups. Try to stay away from having the burden of a boyfriend/girlfriend. Rarely do we marry those that we date in school- but often we carry friendships with us for a long time. – Meredith Hamlin

This season is only temporary and popularity will fade as soon as high school graduation is over! – Gigi Latson

I was always told, “If you lay down with dogs you will get up with fleas”.  Meaning pay attention who you associate yourself with.  – Kenneth Durrett

When you have an issue with someone, you need to try to talk to them about it. It’s better to be honest and open about a hurt or struggle or disappointment than it is to assume the worst and fester. – Kent Travis

As you go thru your youth, understand the importance of setting a goal to accomplish, because this reached goal sets the framework for all future goals in your life that you will want to achieve.  – Bo Barrow

I wish they could clearly see themselves, not so they might be proud or overly egotistical, but simply so they might live in such a way as to reach their potential. – David Dickerson

Wisdom involves not just knowing what is right but doing what is right. –  Hal Brunson

Mark Twain quote sent in by Adam Newman with this thought: “we all come to realize that our parents aren’t quite as stupid as we had once believed…“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”  – Mark Twain

Of course, we say this is all about our teenagers and them getting our perspective.  But, I have come to believe that we adults are still exactly like this ourselves with God, our Father. We have His scriptures, godly influences and friends, and a million resources at the click of our phones to tell us what is really TRUE, but we because of our own season of life, lack of belief, or still lingering adolescent-thinking, we find ourselves grappling to choose this day whom we will serve! We wish we could get God’s perspective; we whine about it to our friends or colleagues, and we complain bitterly of our discontent when we are probably the most blessed people in all the world. So, yes, I cheated and turned this blog on us to also consider that we have to do what we WISH OUR TEENAGERS WOULD DO AND CHOOSE TO BELIEVE AND ACT ON TRUTH in OBEDIENCE. Why? Well I will leave this quote with you to figure that out. It came to me by way of a very wise friend who reminded me in my own struggle a few days ago to get a God perspective on the mysteries of my life.

All that I know is that these are our current mysteries that prompt us in future hindsight to grasp in a fuller way the exactness of His care for you through the faith that is stirred in you at this point…trust in the One who will never betray that…His mercies are everlasting and His faithfulness in all things for our sake is the assurance of yours and my abiding in this time and space! – Major Lytton