Bullied:Hoping To Belong...

At our last youth meeting we go to do something pretty spectacular. We got hear the stories of some really awesome people here at Pleasant Green UMC. I call them All-Stars (Becky Brogden, Gloria Perry, Max Mitchell, and Mary Lou Mitchell). They represent Jesus well. They represent the reality of what it means to always be striving for more of Jesus because we all live in this tension of “not there yet.”

One of the questions of the night that was directed to the sixth graders was, “what is it like being a sixth grader?” To some it was positive experience while to others things weren’t going so well.

I know for myself middle school was an emotional roller coaster for me. I truly felt that I didn’t belong. I felt that I didn’t have any friends. My life felt heavy. One moment that sticks out to me is a day that I will never forget. Sitting at lunch and then all the sudden a guy pulls me out of my chair and starts hitting me on the head. I was so disillusioned. I didn’t know what was going on. I was embarrassed, scared, and mad. Why didn’t I throw a punch back? Instead I just took the punches.

I felt like I was all alone. And all my attempts to be liked always seemed to be shattered. I tried out for sports teams and never seemed to make the cut. And don’t even get me started about girls… just a super, weird time inmy life.

And I don’t think much has changed for middle schoolers today. I think they still go through the same awkwardness and deal with the same deep questions that seem minuscule to adult eyes: do I belong? And who do I belong too?

That is why when I hear these words come out of a middle school or high school youth's mouth that they don’t feel like they belong or that they feel hurt, put down by their peers… I am more and more convinced that my mission is to make sure that

1.       Youth know that they belong. They belong to Jesus and that they are loved deeply no matter what! 

2.       And saying this isn’t enough. I want them to be encouraged and lifted up. I want every youth group to be a super, positive experience. They know that when they step in to this church that they are safe and that they are important valued because too much is at stake with their lives!

I have seen youth go down a destructive path trying to mask all the hurt that they’ve experienced in their lives. Maybe through alcohol, drugs, unhealthy relationships… but I have also seen what can happen when youth know how valuable they are despite their peer’s corrupt words and actions.

And I know this because I am that person that people choose to love when I was in high school. People in church never ceased to let me know how valuable I was to God. And so when I stood on the presopous of trying to belong by way of going to parties I had really good friends and family that stood in my way to tell me that life has so much more to offer. And I am so grateful for each and every one of those people.

We truly are who we are because of good friends, good parents, good churches, good word spoken over us. None of us exist in a vacuum. 

So my hope is that despite the negativity in this world that we can in some way by God’s help pour out the reality that we belong to God and that we can embrace that reality with our lives even when the world seems against us.