Goals for 14 Year-Olds

The setting was a familiar one around East Texas, where on any given Sunday, folks gather together to be encouraged and challenged from the pulpit.
This Sunday was special because the youth pastor had the pulpit to speak to the youth. The rest of us old folks were just there to listen in. Sort of like eaves-droppin’ with an occasional “Amen, brother!” thrown in for good measure.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” quoted the youth pastor, looking out over a congregation that included his own two sons near the front where the youth group sat together.
Goal-setting is something we seldom think about when we are young. Unfortunately, even as parents we tend to forget, too. We set goals for work, for our personal finances, even for our family vacations, without ever thinking to set goals for the most important task we face.
With that in mind, here’s a list of goals for 14 year-olds that seem worthy of a parent’s attention. If it seems like a long list, it’s because 14 year-olds are old enough to be adult-like in many, if not all, of their decisions. Ideally, they should be able to:
-Communicate in a way that expresses love.
-Navigate relationships in a responsible and mature way.
-Prepare a simple meal and serve it to the family
-Meet the needs of small children for several hours without help.
-Correct and encourage small children.
-Be aware of their responsibility to be a role model.
-Be faithful to a future spouse whom they don’t know yet.
-Be careful and undistracting about fashion choices.
-Enjoy a reputation for being mature, kind, and responsible.
-Earn and save money.
-Forego instant gratification; not self-indulgent, but self-sacrificing.
-Recognize their own heart’s motivations.
-Recognize the advantage of correction; be willing to hear and act on it.
Okay, that’s a tall order, isn’t it?
It is a list for mature adults.
On the other hand, I was visiting the church that Sunday because I had been invited by one of their youth. An amazing young lady with a tender heart, and a backbone too, she has been a leader at my sons’ school in all the ways that make other parents smile. She and her parents are a constant source of encouragement to our family because they take the tough path, not the easy one when it comes to parenting.
To me, she is a perfect example of what her youth pastor spoke on that day; studying hard, looking toward the future with hope and confidence, and pointing others to Jesus.
Simple goals to talk about, but mighty powerful when it’s lived out in the life a young person.
Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives and writes with a Texas twang. Comments are invited at http:checklistcharlie.blogspot.com or cathykrafve@gmail.co