Girls

So I got a phone call yesterday morning reminding me that I had signed up to host a small group of our church's youth group girls for dinner last night. I knew I had signed up and had been thinking about it and planning what to serve. Only I thought I had signed up for next Thursday. But even though I was a little caught off guard, I was still willing and able to host the dinner. I knew that I had a bunch of veggies to make a salad and the stuff for a chicken noodle casserole that I had been wanting to try. I even had a fresh loaf of french bread. And a box of brownie mix and a new container of vanilla ice cream. All the makings of a perfectly respectable dinner.

So a little before six o'clock, our guests arrived--three 7th grade girls and the children's minister, Allison. For the past few months, they have been visiting different homes to eat together and fellowship and pray. It's a super idea and I'm so glad that Allison is doing it and that I was able to be involved. A few minutes after arriving, one of the girls said, "Let me guess. We're having some kind of chicken casserole?" "Yep," I said with a smile. Apparently that is what they've had every week. But at least mine had noodles. They hadn't had one with noodles yet. They were all very polite and appreciative even if it was chicken again. (I didn't tell them that I had actually planned to have "make your own pizza" night. Maybe next time.)

I am not around teenage girls very often and even though I taught seventh grade last year, it's completely different out of the classroom. They were silly and funny and smart. They played off each other's silliness and made me smile. I tried to remember what I was like when I was thirteen. I think I was probably silly, but in a different way than these girls. I was also more reserved around adults, but I don't know if that was good or not. And when I was thirteen, there was no youtube or texting so the conversation was much different. One thing remains the same, though. One of the girls has a crush on Johnny Depp. What girl doesn't when they are a teenager...or a thirty something?

The best part of the whole evening was when the girls shared about how their week was going. I learned more about teenage girls in that half an hour than I could from reading twenty books on the subject. They have the same issues that I had at that age. School, friends, parents. They have good days and bad just like everyone. They worry about their families and their friends and their future. They love and live passionately. And did I mention that they are silly? But what came after that was priceless. We went around the circle and prayed. Each girl prayed for what was on her heart and each was sincere. Sincere in what they were feeling and sincere in their belief that God heard them and would be there for them. What a blessing to see young girls, so full of life and fun and with so much ahead of them, trusting the Lord and wanting to know and serve him better.

I couldn't help but think, as Julianna climbed all over me, that someday she will be thirteen. A teenage girl. A girl caught somewhere between child and woman. What will I do? What will I say to her? How will I encourage her to be who she was created to be? Who will she be in those few short years? Only time will tell. I guess for now I will pray even harder for her and for guidance as her mom. And I guess I should start collecting Johnny Depp posters.