This evening when I entered my classroom the teacher from the former class was still present. I noticed on the white board the following message, “No cell phones – No ear buds.” I turned to the prof and said, “Let me guess. Your class was a freshman class.” “Yep,” he replied, “you got it.”
I am not telling you this to make you think I am some kind guru – quite to the contrary. I said it because I do know this. I would never have to put up such a message in one of my grad courses. It’s all about maturation. Eighteen-year-olds and thirty-year-olds are soooo very different.
Since this is the case with something as simple as cell phone use, how much more complicated should be our expectations of teen’s spiritual lives. The frontal lobes of our brains do not come into full use until our mid-twenties. The frontal lobes are where we process values, principles and ethics. Sometimes older generations are filled with despair because it seems that young people have no concrete sense of right and wrong and what is important. We think this because, well, so often it’s the truth. However, the good news is they continue to mature as the sun comes up and goes down. Ever so slowly they turn into us.
Since the beginning of writing, adults have expressed despair that the up coming generation will never be able to successfully run their own lives let alone the world. So, if you have children or grandchildren that don’t seem to grasp the importance of some of the things you value, be patient. A day is coming when they will fret over their children and they will be the leaders in our churches.
Written by Roger Bothwell on September 22, 2016
PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA
rogerbothwell.org