Preparing to Parent TeensSample

Day Three: Your Passion

I read a book once that said the amount of drama (in a teenager’s life) is in direct proportion to the amount of passion they have. Increase passion, decrease drama. It’s that simple. I look around at some moms I know and I think it still applies, to grown-ups. Women living for their kids’ activities, maneuvering their kids’ social lives, and vicariously reenacting their own youth through their teen are living small stories. The drama comes naturally.

Women (and girls) full of passion do not have time for drama. They are living big stories. They have been wrecked by something that Jesus’ heart breaks for and are bringing to bear their talents and treasures to that cause. If our kids are to grow up living for a bigger story than the world offers, they need to see their parents’ model.

They may not adopt your passion. I never expect my kids to care about human trafficking the way I do. But they need to know that the discovery of their passion is a quest worth starting now.

They need to see our passion and they need to have the freedom to discover their own.

Reflection: Have you asked God to reveal the ways in which your heart breaks for that which breaks his? Ask, seek, knock and discover what he shows you.