I think it’s really important to keep the dreams of teenagers in mind.
It’s easy to get side-tracked in our efforts and forget to really listen to them with ears and hearts who are thinking about where they are developmentally or where they’re not.
You can look around to see what they’re dreaming about. Just take a trip to the movie theater this weekend. But there are a whole lot of youths whose dreams are quieter and more specific than we could imagine.
The only way to really grasp them, is to ask them.
Do you ask the teenagers in your life what they are dreaming about?
We did a few weeks ago. We asked our middle school students what they were dreaming about as they headed back to school. I’ll share some of the responses in hopes that you’ll be inspired to do some research of your own and to respond in ways that say that we love and embrace the people they’ve been, the people they are, and the people they are becoming.
Ask yourself:
- How do we collect dreams in our ministry?
- How do we foster environments where dreams come true?
- How I respond when someone’s dreams are crushed?
- Do I know what my own dreams are?
If you dont have a dream, stop right now.
Write one down.
Tell someone.
Pray.
Dreams come true.
And when they don’t come true.
Understand their very really disappointment.
We’ve all felt it. Listen. Learn. Hold each other through no-go parts of our dreams.
How do you feel when a dream is no more? When someone else gets what you were hoping for? As we learn to cope we can give others hope.
Here are some things my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are dreaming about right now…
- I want God to help me volunteer at the SPCA.
- I’m hoping everyone has a safe year.
- My dream is to figure out me.
- I’d like to be confident.
- Straight A’s!
- No Drama
- I dream about concentrating in school.
- I want to win a baseball game.
- Hitting a home run in baseball
- Problems solved between me and my father
- Winning soccer games
- Help me to go out with someone who is AMAZING
- I’m wishing I can do something great with my life.
- A desk for me to write some things on.
- I don’t know much about God but want to know more, I really do.
Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
