I Spy

I love this picture. Yes, it’s not great quality, too bright, taken through a glass door and you can’t really make out the people in it. But my heart can. You see, our youngest has had a tough year. She’s at the age where life is harder than ever before; choices are more important with weightier consequences and feeling are so intense. A lot of prayer has been invested in this one these past 12 months, and I’m sure will continue. But in this picture I see a couple of things. I see her Youth Pastor taking time to sit in our backyard and invest in her. Notice they are face to face, he really sees her. She is sitting forward in her chair, she is open and eager to hear him. They played some tennis, her favorite, and then had lunch and conversation for  a while. I don’t know everything that was said, but I do know that my girl walked away from this time with her pastor feeling seen and heard and respected. There was a lightness about her for the rest of the day.

This week our teens are at camp, two of them are at Youth Camp with the church, so this pastor is investing all he’s got into 60 kids like mine. I am so thankful that he is willing to go to camp with our kids, to witness the transformations as they happen, and even more thankful that he is willing to invest in each of our children.