In High School (Third and Fourth form) there is nothing I dreaded like having to stand in front of hundreds of girls (plus the teachers) every Monday morning and give a speech. However being the school Head girl that was the expectation, it was a routine. Every Monday morning I would give a brief of what happened the previous week and advice on expectations for the new week. A statement in my speech could read like; “Good morning school, last week the duties were fairly well done and would want to give special recognition to Form Two(T) who did exceptionally well in keeping the Dining Hall clean. This week we have Provincial Drama festivals being held in our school and in that respect I expect all of us to maintain high level of discipline and keep our school compound clean…” At age 17 I could put this weekly speech together and I could not only give a speech but follow through to ensure that the issued instructions, school rules and regulations are followed. Of course I did this with the help of other school captains. I must admit that I was not the most responsible, obedient or even loyal student in the school. But the moment this huge responsibility was placed on my shoulders my behavior changed, I had first to be responsible before asking others to be responsible. This sense of responsibility has been my value to date.
I love teaching children and teens in my church. In the course of my teaching I occasionally encounter a stubborn child or teen but the moment I give that child/teen a responsibility say to help arrange the seats, gather teaching aids or any other, their behavior changes. I have observed this same behavior with my own children; The most successful way to make them responsible is by giving them responsibilities.
Note I am not ruling out the fact that we can have youth who are out-rightly rebellious, irresponsible and arrogant. Those who will not accept any responsibility just because they don’t want their ‘peace’ disrupted. However, these are few- you only need to look within your circles and realize that they are the minority.
The Bible is not silent when it comes to giving the youth an opportunity. We find some very young leaders in the Bible; Prophet Jeremiah was only around 17 years old when God called him to minister to the people of Judah, Samuel would have been around 12 or 13 when God called him to ministry, David was anointed by Samuel when he was in his teenage years, Mary was just a teen girl when an angel of God announced to her that she would be the mother of the promised Messiah, Timothy was probably in his late teens when he was asked by Paul to join him on his missionary journey while most scholars believe that most of the disciples were under the age of 18.
The Bible has a strong message on how valuable our children (read youth as well) are-Psalm 127:3-4; ‘Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth’.
I invite you to consider our youthful population an asset; Let us nurture and invest in them, Let us make them lead and not wait to see what will happen if we do not invest in them, Let us consider them a blessing and not a curse. They are our children, our heritage![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”620″ label=””][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Mary Kamore is the Lead Consultant M-OliveS Mentors[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]