Middle School

Last night I visited the middle school group at my church.

Let me set you straight.  I work with high school kids, not middle school.  Walking into a room swarming with 6-8th graders was slightly terrifying.  My immediate thought was that I don't ever remember being that small... middle schoolers must be getting shorter or something.  My next thought was wondering what I had gotten myself into--they had SO much energy! 

As I sat there, listening and observing, I started to flash back to my time in middle school.

I have yet to meet a person who liked middle school, who felt like they fit in, who didn't feel incredibly awkward, or who would love to go back and repeat that time in life.  And while you couldn't pay me to go back to middle school, I can now see things from then that I couldn't see before.

1. I learned "community" in middle school.  For the first time in my life I dug into my church, planted myself there for several years, and made a serious effort to get to know people.  Even though I was only in middle school, I found the elusive "community" that I didn't even know I was searching for at the time.  I spent more time at church in middle school than I spent at home, and I wouldn't have changed that.

2. I learned how volunteering and service fill me up.  I gave of myself to serve and support others and I loved it.  Not just in a "I'm happy to help" kind of way, but a soul-deep, "this is what I was created to do" kind of way.  I was fortunate to attend a church that believed that middle schoolers could play a big role in volunteering--I taught a 3's class when I was 13.  I had helpers and everything.  Looking back on it now, it's hard to believe that they would allow a 13 year old to run a class by themselves--but I'm forever impacted that they did.

3. I learned how to be a leader.  I learned how to use my God-given gifts early on.  I was given the opportunity to grow in a leadership role.  To run a Sunday School class on my own.  To be a part of the leadership team for the junior-high youth group.  To be involved in the planning phases of VBSs and other Children's Ministry events.  I rose to the challenge--because that's what I was created to do.

When I switched churches after middle school I felt adrift.  I didn't feel plugged in during high school.  I felt purposeless in college.  After college I tried to remember the last time I felt "happy" or "joyful" or "purposeful", and I always came up with middle school.  Despite going to three different junior-high schools, with kids I didn't know and who didn't like me, I still felt alive.  I knew who I was, I was confident in what I was doing, and I was within God's blessings.  I wanted the secret to getting back to that place.  How did I ever wander away?

I learned more about myself in middle school than I ever realized at the time.  I found myself, my purpose, my calling--all in junior high.  What a pivotal time to impact a kids life.  Absolutely life transformational.

Thankfully I was able to realize some of those key things and get back to that place again, finally.  A place where I feel completely alive.  Where I know who I am and what I have been created to do.  There's absolutely nothing better.