God, thank you for puppies

I was just thinking about my job as a middle school youth pastor and how thankful I am for it. I wrote this last Thanksgiving. I’m not sure why I didn’t put it on my blog but here you go.

We recently did an exercise in our Middle School ministry called stations of thankfulness. Students were asked to stop at three different stations set up around our youth auditorium. One was a table covered with scrabble pieces that they were asked to construct a word that represented what they were most thankful for in life. This was cool because they would connect their words to other words that their peers made. The second station was a wall covered with mirrors. The students were asked to look at the mirror and instead of picking something that is on the outside to be thankful for they were challenged to give thanks for something involving their character. Then they would get to use their artistic genes and write it, or draw a representation of it, on a mirror using dry erase markers. The last station was a simple set up of chicken wire with a 2x4 attached at each end. The students are asked to write down something that they are thankful for on a post it note or small piece of paper. Then they thank God, fold it up and place it in one of the holes in the chicken wire.

Middle School students are very simple minded, most of the time. Some of the responses I received were innocent and naive. For example: “My Kitten” “My XBOX 360” and “Facebook” were all represented multiple times. More than anything else they wrote down the names of their friends. No surprise there. But as I was taking down some of the notes from the Chicken Wire wall I read one that took me by surprise. It read “I am thankful for my successful surgeries”. These notes were very deep and moving. Our Middle School students have really blown me away over the past four months.

Middle School ministry is often overlooked as a true disciple-making ministry. Because of where they are in adolescent development, their inward focused mind is being challenged to think outside of the “Me Monster”. How often do we get from step 1 to step 5 in life by jumping over steps 2-4? In life, and to be more specific, in biology things don’t work that way.

So while my students are thankful for friends, family, a house, food, water, xbox, and puppies. I am thankful for middle school ministry and the opportunity I get to see them grow.