I'm amazed by what I learn from my kids. In the past couple of days, both my girls have shared thoughts on their blog which have challenged me: Megan Stevens (15 yrs old):

I never believed my middle school teachers when they said that there would be people in our grade who died before they were out of highschool. Surely not true right? We still have our whole lives ahead of us....Such a typical mindset: We're invincible nothing can hurt us!!....Yeah, that's been proved wrong time and time again. We had our second Freshman death last night. His name was Nathan White, and he sat two rows in front of me in study hall. His family was in Florida for Spring Break and he was driving through an intersection when a semi hit him head-on. This boy will never get married, he'll never have kids, he'll never graduate, or be able to fulfill his dreams. And all the people he left behind are mourning his death. But what really bothered me today, was when people were unaffected by all of that. That someone died, and they didn't care, even if they didn't know him, it could have been any of us. I expressed my annoyance to one of my friends who was acting like that and his excuse? "when you go through so much pain you eventually stop feeling emotions." No you refuse to feel them, was my reply. and the final straw "it's easier to be indifferent than to deal with the pain" Yeah it is. Life sucks. I won't deny it. But you could at least pretend like you care. When you become indifferent you become like the Nazi's and all the people who let those Jews die and did nothing to stop it, nothing to help put an end to the ruining of so many lives. I'd rather feel all the pain in the world than be indifferent to the loss of a life. The goal of living is not just to survive...what's the point of that? the goal of living is to do it to the fullest! To experience miraculous things and enjoy this beautiful world God has put at our disposal and to change lives, help people, love eachother!...Yeah maybe indifference is easier but to live your life indifferent to pain is also living your life indifferent to joy, to love, to sorrow, but also to community. For what good is the sunrise if you don't first go through the dark. What good is the rainbow if you don't first press through the storm? Live life to it's fullest! Love everyone. Give from your heart. Take risks. Sing and dance like no one's around. Cuz in an instant the world could slip out from under you, and suddenly the chance will be gone.

Heather Stevens (16 yrs old):

I was talking to my friend, Kristina, yesterday during track practice, and I was just struck again by how amazing God is. He tells us in Matthew 6 that we shouldn't worry about anything; He knows everything before we even do it! Kristina said this, "sometimes I get so caught up in how much I like someone, but that just seems so silly because God has someone even more amazing for me, and He'll bring him along at the right time if I just wait." Isn't that so true though? In those times when I get really excited about something, I have to remind myself, I can't think of anything better than this, but what if God has something even MORE amazing for me? He has my whole life planned out! I can't wait to see what He has in store! Even if sometimes it doesn't seem like it, God has something incredible planned for each and every one of your lives!

When they write, the share heart stuff. It would be a rare moment for them to share these types of thoughts to us in person. But that's okay with me. I want to know what they are thinking and wrestling with--even if I discover it through a blog or on their Facebook page. It makes our together times even more special.