Teenagers

He is 15 years old and declares to the world, "My parents don't understand me!" Like, I suspect, just about every teenager at some point since there were teenagers. I said to him (in the imaginary conversation in my head), "Let's consider that. Do you suppose your parents were never teenagers? If they were, do you think it is possible that they do understand you? On the other hand, have you yet been an adult or, more, a parent? Do you think it is remotely possible that it is you who don't understand?"

Of course, that wouldn't help and you and I know it. The problem is not that this kid's parents don't understand him. This phrase, "My parents don't understand me," is code for "They won't let me do what I want to do." He could tell if his parents understood him by the fact that they let him do what he wants. That is understanding. Because what he wants, regardless of what it is, is definitely good and certainly better than the alternative.

We sage adults smile and shake our heads at the naive teenagers. Sorry, kid, you just don't get it. Adults are supposed to be wiser than children; we're supposed to be filling in the gaps of where they haven't yet learned, arrived, matured. That's what we're here for.

And God smiles and shakes His head at us naive humans. You see, that's all of us. Isn't it? Oh, maybe it's not, "God doesn't understand me!" Certainly we're often upset that He didn't let us do what we wanted to do, didn't give us what we asked for, didn't understand that our way was best. The sheer arrogance is staggering. We're sure that He made a mistake because obviously the request we made or the thing we wanted was far better than what He actually gave us. We asked for a healing, a rescue, a gift, a kindness, a necessary item, something really good. And He answered ... "No." And we cry out, "Why, God?!"

I say to me, "Do you suppose that God might actually understand things better than you? Do you think it is possible that He is a good God and always does what's best? Perhaps, just perhaps, maybe He knows better than you?" Because I want to realign my thinking with His, not vice versa; never the other way around. "I'm sorry, Lord. I don't know what came over me. I need a transformed mind, a clean heart, a renewed spirit." Would that we could see it His way more often and much sooner, instead of being like the teenagers we adults shake our heads at who clearly don't understand.