...about the need for approval

Hey, everyone!
I decided to change the title of my blog.
I'm going to begin every post with the same beginning:
I was just wondering…

So, here goes: I was just wondering...

...after watching WAY too much American Idol lately, why young people have this overwhelming need for recognition, approval, or whatever you want to call it? You see it in their faces when they make it through AND when they are sent home. Yes, I know that there is joy and disappointment, but sometimes you get a deeper look into their lives (probably deeper than they wanted us to see).

OK, let’s start at the very beginning with theory. We love to postulate about how they didn’t get enough nurture, recognition, and/or approval from parents or significant others when they were in their formative years. Yes, some of that may be true (I sure hope so, because I staked a lot of my training – grad school - and a lot of my dad’s money learning a lot of that). Theory also tells us that because they are now adults (or close to it, in age anyway), they are not in any present relationships that give them all that positive stuff either.

Here’s where it all gets practical. God offers all of this. That’s what they are missing! God loves us all; he created us all; he allowed us to have free will to choose where we would go and who we would follow; he also gave us Jesus, to bring us back to him in a relationship that offers recognition, approval, and (upping the ante here) unconditional love with no strings attached! Being in relationship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord is all that we need.

I am still wondering though (and will continue to write and struggle) about how we bring Jesus to a large part of humanity that believes this is all that there is: recognition here, approval here. More on that tomorrow, hopefully with your responses.